


The Deep Blue

by odeToaDeadHorse



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Abduction, F/F, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Mental Health Issues, Spoilers, life is strange au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-08 23:37:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 32
Words: 84,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11092287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odeToaDeadHorse/pseuds/odeToaDeadHorse
Summary: Max and Chloe.Chloe and Max.They entered this world pure and innocent as every child do. None of them knew how the world or fate conspired against them or the ordeals they would face. Life is surely strange, but it's the same for everyone. It's just, some people have a harder time than others. This is their tale of would bes, could bes and some of the things in between.





	1. Foreword

**Author's Note:**

> I’d like to say that my foreword and the story probably contains mild or very obvious spoilers as to some things that happen in the game and the end of it.
> 
> So if you haven’t played the game and don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read any further until you played the game.
> 
> The story probably also contains some sort of bad language, implied use of substances, a certain amount of sex (willing and unwillingly) and probably other themes considered bad. Things are not super graphically described as I prefer letting people’s imagination do the work.
> 
> Anyway if you have problems with that, be warned. 
> 
> Also English is not my native language, so there might be spelling errors and a bit of bad grammar here and there (feel free to make me aware of it if you are so inclined).
> 
> Before I let you loose reading all this, I want to thank all the writers of Life is Strange Fan fiction. From reading your stories I were inspired and thus unknowingly you've contributed to the story I've written. You've had me shed a few tears here and there, smile and in general mess with my emotions, just like the game did. 
> 
> So thank you all for writing good stuff, I only hope that what I've written can get close to it.
> 
> I'll post a few chapters at the start and then try to post a chapter a day, but since I'm working a full time job, I might not manage to do it everyday.
> 
> Oh and did I mention that I'm actually super nervous (and a little scared) posting this. Probably something along the lines of Max being so super reluctant about putting her photo's out in the public so it's open for critique and interpretation.
> 
> Now go read the real foreword ;-)

* * *

**Foreword**

  
I know, I know. I shouldn’t spend a few pages describing why I wrote this, where I come from and such, but I’m going to anyway. It’s my foreword, so you can’t do shit about it, except not read it of course.  
  
Once upon a time I played a game called Life is Strange. I’m a somewhat experienced gamer, having played games for 30+ years and yes back when I started, adventure games was just text with a few choices and a computer was a strange thing to most people.  
  
But I don’t think I’ve ever played a game that had the same effect on me as LiS did.  
  
I’ve also been one to get absorbed into stories forgetting the world around me and the story of LiS did that to me. I was Maxine Caulfield while I played the game (which does sound slightly weird since I’m male and not female), so the choices I made, weighed on me sometimes. They shouldn’t have, since it’s just a game, but they did.  
  
And when the time came and I was given an impossible choice, I choose the only thing I could, the one thing my heart told me was the right thing to do, so I watched the world I knew get destroyed to save someone I cared about.  
  
When the game was over, it had me thinking over my choices, and I understood that I would’ve done the exact same thing if the game had been happening in real life.  
  
Ever since then I’m not the same person, I mean I am, but not at all. The game haunted me for a while. I replayed it oh so many times because I wanted the ‘best’ ending. I watched videos on youtube of people explaining what the ‘right’ thing to do was (the trolley problem and what not).  
  
And yet, I always ended up watching the tornado rip Arcadia bay to pieces when I came to the end of it.  
  
At the time I simply wasn’t able to get the game out of my head.  
  
I've obsessively read as many fanfictions about it as I can(and there is A LOT of them) to get an insight into what other people have felt and thought of it, and to this day I still read most of the new ones.  
  
Eventually I thought, why don’t I try to write a story based on it and that is how I started this story.  
  
It’s a thing I have been writing on ever since I finished the game for the last time in the summer of 2016. So yes, it’s been in the works for a while.  
  
It started out as me wanting to spin a tale about Chloe and Max. As it evolved it was still about these two girls, but it also became a lot more to me.  
  
It became something I could go back to and write more people into, sorta like Max had her journal in the game. It’s ended up being a bit of a sprawl I suppose and anything but perfect. But even if it may not seem so, I had a clear idea with it when I started writing, the start, middle and the end. They were at first only in my mind, but they were there. It may seem weird, but I wrote the first chapter and the last chapter first, then a chapter in the middle, and then I started filling out the blanks in between them. This is also why I couldn’t really post the story until it was done, simply because I wrote chapters out of order. If I had an idea for chapter 27, well then I wrote chapter 27, or at least the idea I had of it down. Then I might’ve written chapter 5 after it.  
  
I have rewritten most of the chapters more times than I can count. I’m probably still not fully satisfied, but I suppose I should let other people than me read it, otherwise it’s not really a story, or it is, but just one I tell myself.  
  
At the end of it, now that I’m done writing all of it, I feel like I have written most of the things I had inside. Still not sure it’s entirely what I wanted it to be when I began and every time I read it, I feel like changing something. But regardless of me being me and never being fully satisfied, I am honestly ever so slightly proud of myself for even getting to the finish line with this, however long it’s taken by now.  
  
This story happens in an AU, so things are not entirely like they are in the game. Characters could be different, things might be better or worse, or even more sad and depressing than you could ever imagine. Or maybe none of that. I have deliberately tried not to disclose to much about what is going to happen in notes, because I want you, the reader, to find out by reading it.  
  
So I hope that you’ll enjoy reading it, just as much as I did writing, rewriting, redoing, and then reading it myself. I’ve spent a long time getting this story out of my system, sometimes wondering if I’d ever complete it. And now, I’m finally done (I hope) !  
  
Enjoy :-)


	2. Early days

* * *

  **1 : Early days**

  
Max and Chloe.  
   
Chloe and Max.

   
Each were the dream child of their parents. Chloe was born about a year before Max was and each were born into this world knowing nothing of the trials and tribulations they would face in their lives. They entered this world pure and innocent as every child does.  
   
Though the way they came to be was slightly different from one another. Chloe came screaming and kicking almost right from the get go, and so fast that William and Joyce didn’t even make it out of the house before she arrived. A real hellraiser as her mom would later call her. Joyce and William were overjoyed that they had a baby girl. She had her father’s eyes and her mom’s pretty face. Or at least that’s what they kept telling themselves. They gave her the name Chloe. They just liked that name, so it became hers.  
   
Vanessa and Ryan were similarly overjoyed when they too had a baby girl, even if she wasn’t planned. A tiny little girl, which they named after Vanessa’s Grandmother, Maxine. Maxine came into the world after keeping her mom in labor for almost 24 hours and her dad in some serious suspense. She was so silent, that the nurse almost thought she was dead. That was until she slapped her behind as it was customary, and that brought about a wail that could wake the dead, at least that’s what her dad Ryan thought. She had the most magnificent big blue eyes, the tiniest hint of future freckles and already as a baby she was just the cutest thing you ever saw.  
   
The two families lived only a few minutes apart from each other in Arcadia Bay. A quiet fishing town along the coast of Oregon, which really didn’t have much to offer in the ways of entertainment or excitement, It did however have plenty of natural beauty all around it to make up for it. But to them, Arcadia bay was just right, to them Arcadia bay was home.  
   
Joyce worked as a waitress at the town’s most renowned diner, the Two whales and many claimed she was the reason it kept itself afloat. William worked as a forest ranger and was often gone days at a time when he walked into the forest. Ryan had worked a number of odd jobs, at current though he was a carpenter. He loved this job, because he had always been good with his hands. Vanessa was an indoor architect, but it probably wouldn’t last forever, since Arcadia bay didn’t exactly have a huge demand for her skills.  
Sadly neither family knew who the other family were, or even that they lived as close as they did.  
   
Maxine and Chloe spent their youngest years in houses 5 minutes apart, but never really knew of the others existence. As young children neither of them had that many friends, other than the ones they made up in their heads. This was slightly sad, but seeing that they both had very protective parents, not really much of a surprise.  
Joyce and William intended to get a second child, but seeing how much of a handful Chloe was, they decided against it for the time being. Vanessa and Ryan on the other hand, couldn’t see themselves raising another child in the near future. Financially they didn’t have the money, but more so Maxine hadn’t been part of their plan, or well maybe sometime in the future, but not right now.  
   
Chloe was always a real curious one and constantly got herself into trouble, even as little. She simply couldn’t keep her hands out of things. More than once William or Joyce had to take her to the doctor’s office to get her patched up. Actually it happened so frequently that they had made a schedule for who would take her to the doctor if she got herself hurt.  
   
Max on the other hand was cautious, but also really curious. She more or less avoided getting in trouble, despite being extraordinarily clumsy as a toddler. Vanessa was sure Maxine would die several times during her early childhood just to find her getting up from a fall with a toothy smile, arms stretched out and those big eyes looking right at her, “mama up !”. Vanessa could only shake her head and try to pop her heart back into her chest. That girl will be the death of me, she thought. But she couldn’t help but smile back, Max was afterall the most important thing in her life, well her and Ryan.  
   
Time slowly dwindled on, Chloe and Max got older. They learned how to talk, somewhat how to behave too. Chloe always seemed to smile. No matter what she seemed to have a smile on her face and a glint in her blue eyes, just like her dad always had.  
Maxine grew up introvert and shy, though she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, at least to her parents. But then again, you can only have so much courage as a tiny kid. Maxine’s freckles was also making an appearance as she gained a few years, if anything, it just made her seem even cuter and innocent.

* * *

  
On Max’s 4’th birthday Vanessa and Ryan decided to go to the Two whales diner, instead of cooking home as they usually did. At the time, the place was also running a Kids birthday special, which might’ve been the reason Ryan and Vanessa choose to go there.  
Max, who in her early years was shy and slightly introverted, was also as stubborn as a mule. So she had insisted that she brought her only friend, one eyed Cap’n teddy. Why he only have one eye, well Max may or may not have swallowed the other eye by accident when she was 3 years old, resulting in an emergency visit to the hospital. On her Birthday no less. In all fairness though, it was never discovered if she actually had swallowed it since the x-rays came up blank. But it was plenty of excitement for one day.  
Vanessa smiled to herself and shook her head, as she ran over the memory in her head. She looked out the window of the car as they drove through Arcadia Bay towards the Two whales diner and sighed. Hopefully this birthday wouldn’t include a trip to the hospital, she thought to herself while the landscaped whizzed by and she was lost in thought.  
   
“Daddy is mommy sad ?”, Max questioned.  
   
“No, I don’t think so pumpkin. Mommy is probably just thinking about your birthday last year”  
   
“I can’t member last year daddy”  
   
Ryan laughed, a deep rumbling noise, “You probably can’t pumpkin, because you were at the hospital most of the time and slept through most of the day”.  
   
“But why daddy ?”  
   
“Because you are a little trouble maker pumpkin !”  
   
“I not a twoublker daddy”, Max said and tried to stomp her feet in her child seat in the back of the car.  
   
Vanessa snapped out of it, “Ryan stop teasing her, it’s her birthday let’s make it better than last year ok ?”  
   
“Sure hon”  
   
“Her name is mommy, daddy”, Max said from the back and Ryan laughed again, couldn’t argue with a child’s logic anyway.  
   
A few minutes after a pleasant drive along the coastline they arrived at the diner, a small happy family. The sun had come out from behind the clouds, and now it was shining brightly over Arcadia Bay and everyone in it. It felt like this happened every year on Maxine’s birthday. Every, single, year. It would be grey and cloudy in the morning and as the day moved on, so would the clouds and it would turn into a perfect day.  
   
Two Whales was by no means a luxury place, but it was renowned for it’s good home cooking and it had an atmosphere you just couldn’t find anywhere else in the surrounding area of Arcadia bay. There was a place for everyone at that diner, as long as they didn’t disobey the rules of common sense and behaviour.  
   
Ryan parked the car at a spot in the back of the parking lot, so it would be in the shade. He and vanessa got out. Vanessa opened the door to where Max sat, undid Max’s seat belt and took her out of the car. Ryan picked Max out of her arms and lifted her up onto his shoulders. He was a massive man standing at 6’8 with broad shoulders, so to Max, this was like being on top of a mountain.  
   
“Yay daddy, I’m giant”, she chirped excitedly. She loved when her dad did this, even if she was a little scared and it tickled in her stomach. So unknowingly to herself, her tiny hands gripped a little tighter onto his hair.  
   
“Ok pumpkin, where should the giant go ?”, Ryan said with a chuckle.  
   
“Boats daddy, boats”, Max shouted and pointed in the general direction of the small wharf nearby.  
   
“Alrighty, here we go”, Ryan said as he began stomping towards the wharf with huge exaggerated steps, much to his daughter’s delight.  
   
From the diner two big blue orbs stared at him, and at Max, “I want a giant too”, the little person staring said to herself, “I wish my daddy was here so I could be a giant too”. She quickly climbed down from the cubicle and ran towards the door but was stopped by a stern voice.  
   
“Chloe, you know the rules, you can’t go outside because I can’t keep on eye on you out there”  
   
“I know mommy”, Chloe stopped at the door, sighed deeply and then sulked back towards the kitchen. Stupid mommy is no fun, always wants me here, she thought to herself.  
   
Vanessa was in the meantime getting tired of Ryan going off on a small adventure with Maxine, “Hey you two, this was not the plan, food..remember ! ? “  
   
“Relax hon, we won’t be long, only have to look at the ships a little, right pumpkin ?”  
   
“Yeh, we look at ship mommy”  
   
Vanessa was about to scold and call them back, but decided against it. It was Maxine’s birthday so maybe she herself should have a say in what happened, so Vanessa resigned and let them go on a little adventure on the wharf.  
   
Max was elated and pointed her fingers in all directions, telling her dad to go left and right, here and there. They talked with a few fishermen, who after hearing it was her birthday, said “so that’s why it’s such a nice day”, which in turn made Max smile and clap her hands of excitement that she was the cause of this nice weather.  
   
After a while, Ryan figured it was time to lure her back onto ground, “So pumpkin, isn’t it about time we go eat..cause this giant is getting hungry and you never know what it wants to eat if there is no other food nearby”, he said as he tightened his grip on Max’s legs a little.  
   
Max only thought about it for a little bit and then commanded the giant to go to the diner, she feared he might mean her when he had said, other food.  
   
Ryan chuckled to himself when he noticed his little ploy had worked, she was so adorable sometimes his little girl, as if he’d ever even consider eating her.  
   
A few minutes later they joined Vanessa at the edge of the wharf and walked together towards the diner.  
   
They walked up the dingy looking stairs, which regardless, was surprisingly strong and didn’t give a single squeak. They opened the door and walked in. Max choose the booth to the far end as the one they would sit down at, to her it just seemed to be the best one.  
   
A waitress quickly came over, “Hey I’m Joyce, what can I get you ?”, she said with a distinct southern drawl to her voice.  
   
Although Max was more than a little shy, she knew it was her birthday, so it was her day to rule. As such Max wasted no time in opening her mouth, even beating her mom to it, “Is my day, and I want waggles”, Max said in a childish, yet very decisive voice.  
   
“Oh, so it’s your birthday, well then I’ll make sure to give you extra ice cream with your waggles”, Joyce replied with a smile, and not missing a beat gently ruffled Maxine’s hair.  
   
“I like you. You give me ice. Mommy always say I can’t have” Max said, showing a toothy smile to Joyce, while looking at her with those big blue eyes of hers. This resulted in her mom’s face turning a deep shade of red as she tried to say something in her defence and her dad laughing a loud genuine laugh at his daughter’s unexpected boldness.  
   
“Now, now pumpkin, don’t you go make your mom’s head explode, it would be some mess if we had to clean the entire diner of that, and even more so on your birthday”, Ryan said with a smile and an even bigger laugh than the one before.  
   
“RYAN”, Vanessa shouted, as she elbowed him in the ribs, turning redder if that was even possible at this point.  
   
”Oh honey, I think it was quite enough that we had to spend half of Maxine’s birthday last year at the hospital, how on earth would I be able to explain you without your head” he continued and laughed even more.  
   
“Sorry hon, but your husbands joking around reminds me of my William, they certainly seem to have a similar humor” Joyce said as she couldn’t help but chuckle at Ryan’s antics. Vanessa shook her head but had to give into the good spirit and started laughing too.  
   
When the table had calmed down a bit, Joyce turned to Maxine. Between Ryan’s laugh and Vanessa’s sputtering she had not gotten the entirety of Maxine’s name, so she just said what she had heard of it, not knowing that Maxine would stick with it for the rest of her life, “You know Max, I have a daughter about your age”, Joyce said with a smile,”Her name is Chloe, she is around here somewhere, probably causing some sort of trouble. Maybe you’d want her to join your birthday party so you could have a friend to celebrate it with ?”  
   
“No, it’s my party, just me, mommy, daddy and capn”, Max said making her best pouty stubborn child face.  
   
Max felt someone tugging at her t-shirt and she looked to her left and saw a girl a bit taller than herself, with dirty blonde hair and the bluest of blue eyes which were starting to tear up.  
   
“Why don’t you want me to join Max, I like ice cream too”, Chloe said, sniffling as she was about to start crying.  
   
“It’s my day, and I decide who can have Ice cream or not”, Max said matter of factly, crossing her arms pouting slightly to make sure the message got across.  
   
“Now Maxine, that’s not very nice, it may be your birthday, but you remember what we talked about don’t you”, Vanessa said in her calm parenting voice.  
   
“Yes mommy”, Max said and looked down at her feet as she nodded. She remembered mommy telling her it was better to share and be nice, than be a bully and hurt others, “Ok, you can get ice cream too”, she said and tried not to sound to unhappy.  
   
“YEPPIEEEE”, Chloe screamed out loudly, “ I LOVE ICE CREAM”, She impulsively hugged Max, crying happy tears on the little girl. “We will be best friends forever”, she stated, not knowing how true those words would be.  
   
Ryan, Vanessa and Joyce looked confused at each other as the two young kids hugged and started talking to each other faster than the adults thought possible.  
   
“Ok, I better go get those two some ‘waggles’ and ice cream before I have a riot on my hands”, Joyce said, shaking her head in disbelief at the scene. Max and Chloe didn’t even hear what Joyce said, they were lost to this world and busy telling each other everything they had done in their lives so far, not sparing any detail.  
   
Afternoon turned to evening, evening to night. Joyce’s shift ended and her husband William came by to pick her and Chloe up, but still Max and Chloe were talking, sitting next to each other holding hands, laughing and giggling as if they had known each other always.  
   
It was very clear to the 4 grown ups, that something special had happened on this day. They had watched their girls go from having no friends, to having what was probably a best friend in literally no time at all. It wasn’t until the two girls had fallen asleep in the booth holding each other’s hands that they could go home.  
   
William invited the Caulfields over to a bbq in the weekend, and they were all surprised to learn just how close to each other their houses actually were. Life had suddenly taken a new direction for the two families. But all of them agreed, this could only be for the better.


	3. Captain Chloe and First mate Max

* * *

  **2\. Captain Chloe and First mate Max**

In their immediate surroundings no one was really sure when it started, but somehow Chloe and Max became fascinated with pirates. They wrote stories about the adventures of Captain Chloe and her trusty first mate Max the merciless. They went on endless treasure hunts to the forest wilderness behind their houses, and drew comics of their adventures. The other kids found it funny and teased them, but that ended relatively quickly when Chloe broke Zachary’s nose, when he had taken the teasing of Max one step too far. Chloe did get detention and a note to her parents. Which in turn did give her a stern lecture and grounded her for 3 weeks. None of the kids dared tease the two girls after that though.  
   
However, this current adventure was one that took them further into the forest than ever before. Though the two of them were none the wiser, to them it were just another adventure.  
   
The summer sun was shining from a bright blue sky, 8 year old Max and Chloe at 9, had started the hunt for Crooked Croc’s golden treasure. Both clad in their pirate gear with wooden swords, that Max’s dad, Ryan, had made from some suitable pieces of driftwood they had found on one of their beach adventures. Joyce had made each of them a sandwich which they carried in their backpacks together with a bottle of orange juice.  
The forest somehow seemed deeper and denser than it had been on any of their previous adventures, as they entered it with a song on their lips and a twinkle in their eyes. Birds were singing as they hand in hand made their way ever deeper into the forest, studying the map they ‘found’ among other treasure.  
   
“Let’s keep going straight”, Chloe said with determination in her voice  
   
“Aye aye, cap’n”, Max replied in a fake pirate accent, which made both girls giggle  
   
“Your accent is so bad”  
   
“Like yours is any better”, Max shot back,”you couldn’t even fake a captain’s accent if your life depended on it”  
   
“Har Har har, I’ll have you keel hauled for that first mate”, Chloe replied and chased after Max to capture her. A few paces up she caught up to Max and tackled her to the ground, tickling her even before they hit the ground.  
   
“No fair Chloe, no fair”, Max shouted out between laughs.  
   
If there was one thing Max had learned being friends with Chloe, it was that she only stopped tickling if she was either bested, or whomever she tickled gave up. Max wasn’t about to give up, so she summoned her strength and went on the offensive. This caught Chloe off guard and she lost her balance. Max was now fully living up to her pirate name, the merciless. She tickled Chloe into the ground. Chloe was laughing so hard she had trouble controlling her limbs.  
   
“Max, stop, I’ll pee myself”, Chloe got out between her laughing fit.  
   
After a bit Max stopped tickling Chloe. Chloe was panting from exhaustion and all the laughing. Both girls looked at each other and smiled. They didn’t need to say a word, Max got up, grabbed Chloe’s hand and pulled her onto her feet.  
   
“Let’s go captain, we have a lot of ground to cover before we find the treasure”  
   
Max said with a smile and started singing her self invented treasure hunt song.  
After a bit Chloe started singing it too as they ventured on deeper into the forest.

A path is there so we go  
Me and capn Chlo  
We follow till we see  
The treasure you and me  
   
Me and capn Chlo  
Together we will go  
The treasure we will find  
Cause it’s all that’s on our mind  
   
A treasure hunt we go  
Me and capn Chlo  
When we find it all will see  
We’re real pirates you and me

As time slowly crept forward and they marched on, somehow, in the forest they knew like the back of their hand, Chloe and Max got lost and couldn’t find their way back.  
Chloe who was normally the bold and adventurous one had grown silent and had grabbed Max’s hand, refusing to let go of it, as the sun slowly crawled ever further down the horizon. Chloe knew they were lost, but thought Max was still oblivious to it. However Max was very much aware of the fact that she had no idea which part of the forest they were in anymore.  
   
“We are lost aren’t we captain ?”, Max said with a tiny voice.  
   
“No, Max, don’t worry, I know the way”, Chloe tried to tell Max. But somewhere during the sentence her voice cracked revealing the truth.  
   
Max started sniffling,”We’ll never get home again, we’ll be lost forever”.  
   
Chloe grabbed Max’s hand even tighter,”Don’t cry Max, I’ll never leave you, we’ll be safe together”, Chloe said trying to convince herself as much as she wanted to convince Max. It didn’t work very well, and they both started crying.  
   
“I want to go home”, Max said during heavy sobs.  
   
“Me too”, Chloe said, not once letting go of Max’s hand, making sure she was next to her. Not a chance in hell did Chloe want to be lost and alone in this forest when it got dark.  
   
After a bit of crying Max sniffled and then went silent.  
   
“I’m hungry Chloe, I think we should eat our sandwiches”  
   
“We should save them, we might not know when we get to...”, Chloe was interrupted by her own stomach making a huge bear like growl.  
   
Max Couldn’t help but snicker at that. And despite their situation the two girls found themselves howling with laughter because Chloe’s stomach disagreed with her brain.  
   
“Ok, maybe we should eat”, Chloe said with a giggle, when they had calmed down.  
   
In the last light of the day, Max took their sandwiches out of the backpack together with the orange juice and 2 cups. She poured some of the orange juice into the cups and gave one of them to Chloe and took the other herself.  
   
“A toast, to the best pirate friends ever”, Max said as she looked at Chloe.  
   
“Best friends forever”, Chloe replied as she crashed her cup together with Max’s and drank all her orange juice in one gulp,”Mighty fine whiskey, first mate Max”  
   
This made Max smile and giggle a little despite the increasing darkness, which she was kinda scared of.  
   
They ate and drank the rest of their food in silence except for the sounds of them eating.  
   
“Chloe, what should we do ? I’m scared of the dark”, Max said when they were done.  
“Don’t worry Max, I’m here. Together we can do anything”, Chloe reassuringly told Max.  
   
“Let’s keep on moving forward Max”  
   
“Ok”, Max got up and started moving, but before she got very far she felt Chloe’s hand in hers, “Don’t you dare leave me behind First mate”, Chloe said as she grabbed Max’s hand as tight as she could so she wouldn’t lose Max as they moved slowly forward.  
   
The sun had now completely disappeared, and it was more or less pitch black in the forest. Chloe and Max walked hand in hand through the forest. Max was worried at every moving shadow, she hated the dark, it scared her like nothing else. The only thing that prevented her from running blindly forward screaming in fear, was Chloe’s hand holding hers.  
Chloe kept telling herself, Max is here, don’t be scared, Max is here. She held onto Max’s hand as if her life depended on it.  
   
If one had looked on a map and dotted in the course the two girls had taken, then somehow they had managed to walk in a straight line all the time. So instead of going towards home, they were walking ever further away with every step they were taking.  
   
At home, their parents were officially worried sick and had been out in the immediate area to call for Max and Chloe, but they had gotten no replies. William, as a ranger, knew the forest as the back of his hand. A few days back he had spotted some bear tracks a few miles into the woods, so he was very concerned. He had called in friends, Ryan had too. They made a few groups and went into the forest to look for the two kids. It was getting quite late, and they were scared and worried that something serious had happened to their kids.  
   
After what felt like days of walking, Max and Chloe got to a point in the forest where there was a giant oak next to a lake in an otherwise relatively open area without trees. In this area the light from the universe seemed to reach the ground and they could see somewhat clearly, that or maybe they had just gotten more used to the dark. The area was surreal to say the least, the mist was slowly pooling over the lake, though it wasn’t completely dense, as one could still see across the lake. In stark contrast a giant Oak towered at the side of the lake, seemingly sending itself into the sky and it’s big veiny roots in any direction. Normally this should be a scary sight at night, but not here. It seemed peaceful and safe instead.  
   
“I’m tired Chloe”, Max said as she began to sniffle again,”and a little scared too”  
   
“Don’t be scared Max, I’m here, as long as we are together nothing bad will happen”  
   
“You sure Chloe ?”  
   
“Yes Max, as long as we stick together nothing can hurt us. Let’s go to that oak and sit under it. I’m tired of walking”  
   
Max nodded in agreement and they walked towards the oak. Once they reached it, they found a nook between it’s roots where some long grass grew and they could comfortably sit and be out of the chilling breeze.  
Chloe scuttled close to Max, not wanting to show Max she was scared, but also not wanting to be too far apart from her. It was her and Max against the world now, or the forest, she was thinking.  
Max started sobbing a little again, “I want to go home, I want my mommy”  
   
“Me too Max”, Chloe said as she started to sob too.  
   
Chloe wrapped her arms around Max’s shoulder and pulled her closer, Max willingly let herself slide into Chloe’s embrace and the two kids sat there feeling the heat of their bodies, and their sobbing slowly ebbed out.  
   
“If we die on this adventure, I’m glad I’m dying with you Chloe”, Max said, “You are the best friend I ever had”  
   
“You are my best friend too Max”, Chloe said and she started sobbing a little again, “I don’t want to die, I want my mommy”.  
   
Max snuggled closer to Chloe and tried to comfort her as best she could. None of them noticed the moon was rising, shining its bright light straight over the lake like a laser beam, somehow dispersing the now heavy fog. They also didn’t notice the doe that seemingly walked straight over the lake and stopped right in front of them, they were too busy trying to not be scared.  
   
Eventually Max noticed it,”Look Chloe, look”, she whispered  
   
Chloe lifted her head from it’s resting place on Max’s shoulder and saw the doe,”wow, it looks so cereal”  
   
“It does, doesn’t it”, Max stated,”do you think it’s a ghost deer”  
   
“I don’t know what it is Max”, Chloe said with an awestruck voice,”I’m not sure why, but I’m not scared of it”  
   
“Me neither, I feel safe looking at it”  
   
They snuggled closer together if that was even possible, but they managed, and as they watched the doe watch over them, the pair slowly dazed of. They should by all means be freezing, cold and miserable, but they weren’t, instead they slept soundly dreaming of adventures and their own pirate ships.  
   
It was 3 in the morning when William’s group, almost having given up hope on finding them, saw something glimmer in a beam of moonlight. They ran towards it and it turned out to be a reflex on Max’s backpack they had seen. They found them sleeping under the great oak when they reached it. They couldn’t see the doe, but it was still watching over the kids. Relief was painted on the faces of the adults as they found the kids safe and soundly sleeping. William radioed it in and told Ryan where they were. As Ryan’s group came there some 30 mins later, they all wondered how their children had managed to walk this far into the forest. But the sight of the two kids sleeping, Max snuggled into Chloe, who in turn had her arms wrapped around Max, holding one of her hands as they slept, made them relax. Their kids were ok, nothing bad had happened. They did try to wake them to take them home, but neither kid seemed to want to wake up, or even let go of the other. So the adults decided to stay at the spot until Morning, and seeing that it was somewhat of a natural camping spot in the forest, they built a fire and spent the rest of the night chatting and drinking spruce tea.  
   
As morning broke, Max woke up and felt arms around her, she panicked at first and then remembered it was just Chloe. She noticeably relaxed after realizing it, and just waited for Chloe to wake up. After a bit Chloe stirred and woke too. After a slight bit of confusion, she remembered the situation too.  
   
“You awake Max ?”  
   
“Yes”  
   
“Do you think they are looking for us”  
   
“I hope so Chloe”  
   
In that moment the adults announced themselves, and the two kids jumped up and ran to their parents, In unison shouting “MOM, DAD !” jumping into the safety of their embrace.  
   
Though on the entire trek back home through the forest, Chloe held Max’s hand and refused to let go. She had said she’d never leave her, and she never would. It was Chloe and Max forever, and Chloe intended to make sure it stayed like that.  
   
In the years to come the two families would come to that great oak in the forest and camp at least once or twice a year. Just because it was actually a really good camping spot, and also because Chloe and Max insisted that they had to go to ‘their’ spot in the forest. The adults didn’t know that in reality the two kids wanted to go to see if the doe was still there, and it was, but only Chloe and Max could see it.


	4. A silent whisper is a raging storm

* * *

  **3 : A silent whisper is a raging storm**

  
 As Chloe and Max grew up, adventuring in Arcadia Bay, they were always together.  
Chloe the mischievous and daring Captain of the ship, Max as the more grounded and perceptive first mate. Both getting into and out of trouble together. Unknowingly to themselves they had grown from children into teenagers.  
They started developing feelings for each other as their teenage hormones started raging. It was really quite sweet to watch them interact in this regard, blushing and looking away from each other. However they both believed the other one didn’t feel the same, so they never acted on their feelings, to afraid of losing the only friend they had if the feelings weren’t mutual.  
   
On a sunny day, Max and Chloe were spending the day together at Chloe’s place. William offered to make pancakes, which Max and Chloe accepted with big overjoyed faces. The day passed along, they were happily chatting and goofing around in the backyard of Chloe’s place. William got a call late in the afternoon, from Joyce, asking to get picked up. He told the girls he would be leaving to get Joyce. Somehow though his keys had disappeared.  
   
“Girls, have you seen the car keys ?”, he asked, “I could’ve sworn I put them right here”, he muttered to himself.  
   
“What dad ?”, Chloe said with an innocent voice.  
   
“I said, have you seen my keys ?”  
   
“Uhm..Nope, no, haven’t seen them at all”, Chloe said trying to sound as innocent as possible. She didn’t want her dad to leave while they were having so much fun, so she had nicked the keys.  
   
“Aha, are you sure about that Chloe Elisabeth Price ?”, William said knowingly, already having guessed the culprit behind his missing keys.  
   
“Uhoh, here Max, catch”, Chloe shouted and Tossed the keys to Max, who clumsy as she was managed to fumble and drop the keys into the kitchen sink where they disappeared with a clatter.  
   
“S-sorry”, Max said turning a deep shade of red, embarrassed over her clumsiness.  
   
William sighed deeply, “Not your fault Max”, he said as he looked sternly at Chloe, “I’ll call Joyce and say I’ll be a little late”. After the call he then went to get his toolbox and take the sink apart so he could get his keys. After 15-20 minutes he had managed to get his keys and put the tubes back together.  
   
“We’ll talk about this when I get back Chloe, ok !”, William said as he was leaving.  
   
“Yes dad”, Chloe said and looked down. She kinda knew this had been uncool, but she just wanted her dad to stay there because they had so much fun.  
   
As William went out the door and waved the two girls goodbye, neither of them knew that this would be the last time they ever saw him alive.  
   
After a few hours Max and Chloe were getting worried, because William and Joyce hadn’t returned yet from what should normally be a 30 minute drive.  
   
“Where are they, it shouldn’t take them this long”, Chloe mumbled to herself.  
   
“I know”, Max said having heard Chloe’s mumble.  
   
There was a knock on the door and Chloe ran there as fast as she could, thinking it was her mom and dad returning home. When she opened, she saw it was two police officers and Joyce. They were not bearers of good news. Joyce told Chloe as gentle as she could that William was dead, his car had been hit by a semi that missed a red light. He had died immediately.  
   
Chloe was completely lost and broken, blaming herself for the accident because of her stunt with the keys. Had Max not been there to comfort her, she was sure she would’ve died.  
During those days Max spent most of her time at Chloe’s, not wanting to leave her side for a second. They slept together, most nights Chloe crying herself to sleep in Max’s arms babbling about how much she regretted taking her dad’s keys. Often she also begged god to give her dad back. Max’s parents didn’t force her to come home, they knew Chloe needed Max and since they had their own things to arrange time just went by.  
   
Then another disaster struck Chloe and Max’s life. Nothing could really have prepared Chloe or Max for this. Max’s mom had been offered a high profile job in Seattle. Her parents had discussed it for a while and the move had been decided before Chloe’s dad had died.  
Ryan and Vanessa had been wanting to tell Max earlier, but had decided not to drop it on her right away, since William had just died and Chloe needed her. But there was no avoiding telling her anymore, so the day before they had to go when they could postpone it no longer, they did. At first Max refused to believe them, then she raged at them for not telling her sooner and then she ran crying over to Chloe to tell her that she had to leave the very next day.  
   
Chloe wished it wouldn’t have happened, wished it was all a bad dream.  
   
But it wasn’t, it was all too real.  
   
Dad was gone, and now Max would be gone too.  
   
Chloe would be alone, all alone. No one could help her now, she had made sure of it when Max came crying to tell her she was moving to Seattle.  
   
Why did I do that to Max ? My Max, the only one I wanted to always be there for me. I drove her away, I killed her. I killed me. Chloe couldn’t escape her thoughts as she laid sobbing in her bed.  
   
She had told Max the worst things. Things she bitterly regretted now, wishing they could be undone.  
   
But Max was gone, as sure as Chloe had told her she hated her and never wanted to see her again. As sure as Chloe had slapped Max in the face. As sure as she had pushed Max into the gravel in their driveway and yelled at her, telling her how useless she was and that she never wanted to see her again. As sure as she had broken Max’s heart and her own in the process.  
   
Chloe bitterly regretted losing the only person that mattered more to her than her dad, and she regretted that in her sadness and anger she couldn’t see it until she had pushed her away.  
   
Chloe was all alone, but that was not really why she cried. She cried because she knew she would never get to tell Max everything, and that hurt more than anything.  
   
Max ran home after that fateful encounter with Chloe. She felt Chloe’s slap on her face burn, but she didn’t care about that, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that her chest was empty from having her heart torn out by the one person she cared for more than any other living being.  
   
Ryan and Vanessa saw her burst through the door to their home and run upstairs to her room in tears.  
   
They heard the door being slammed shut.  
   
They heard her sobbing and crying like they had never heard her cry before.  
   
They looked at each other and they both knew the timing of this was absolutely horrible, but there was nothing they could do now. It was settled, things were packed and they would leave the very next day. They tried to open the door to Max’s room, so they could console her, but it was locked and Max refused to open the door when they asked.  
   
The morning after, Chloe had more than regretted everything she had said in anger the day before. She took her bicycle and rode as fast as she could to catch Max before she left. To say she was sorry, that she didn’t mean it. To say that she loved Max, that Max and only Max mattered to her. But she was too late, the Caulfields had already driven off early in the morning. This was to reach Seattle before the movers, so they could make sure the boxes and heavy things got put at the relatively right spot, before unpacking everything.  
   
Chloe just stood there hands shaking, breathing heavily. She saw the empty house of her best friend and everything came tumbling down. Her hopes, her dreams, her life. Tears began to run down her cheeks when it hit her, that Max was gone. Chloe wasn’t sure how she got home. She walked up the stairs to her room and shut the door, wishing the world would disappear or that she could disappear, wishing that she didn’t feel so empty. Chloe hugged herself and picked up her phone. She was rocking back and forth on her bed as tried to quench her tears. She looked at her phone with blurry eyes and started writing a message to Max, but she never sent it. What’s the point, Max surely hates me now, was all she could think as she deleted the message and tossed the phone onto her bed.  
   
Max cried everyday for weeks after arriving in Seattle. Chloe hated her. How could she not see that she was all that mattered to her.  
   
That Max needed Chloe to be stronger, that Chloe needed Max to be stronger. That they needed each other to be strong. Max felt an emptiness inside without Chloe. She felt like someone had torn her heart out and put nothing back in. Her brain could not accept that Chloe wasn’t here. She was too young to understand what it meant, but Max needed Chloe, she needed Chloe more than anything to tell her that everything would be alright.  
Max meant to send an email, or write a text on her phone. But every time she tried, she remembered Chloe shouting at her, the venom coming from her mouth, telling her she was useless and less than nothing to her.  
   
Max couldn’t do it, she couldn’t bear the possibility of being rejected again. So she wrote a few lines and then discarded it. Everytime she did she felt even weaker and as time moved on, Max gave up.

* * *

Time and distance grew between the two girls. Max becoming ever more shy and introvert and Chloe growing ever more rebellious and angry. Of course they were both unaware of the turns and twists in the others life as none of them tried to contact the other out of fear of being rejected.  
   
Joyce knew something was very wrong with Chloe, she knew it had something to do with Max not being here anymore. She suspected why Chloe took it so hard, but Chloe refused to talk about it. Ryan and Vanessa knew something was wrong with Max. But neither of them knew how to cope with it or even what to do. It never really occurred to them that Max behaved like she did because Chloe wasn’t there anymore. They thought, maybe this is just a phase.  
   
Chloe was getting into all the wrong things, alcohol, drugs, drunk driving, vandalism and so many other things that Joyce had lost count by now. She had even tried to killed herself once, but her new friend Rachel had managed to get to her in time. Thankfully she was still at Blackwell, barely, but if she continued her current antics that wouldn’t last long.  
Max on the other hand was talking to herself or maybe it was an imaginary friend.  
She was on her own still, even after almost 5 years in the same school in Seattle, she had made no new friends, or for that matter made even a single attempt at getting any new friends.  
   
Ryan and Vanessa were at their wits end because Max seemingly didn’t want anyone to enter or be a part of her life anymore. Slowly but surely she had even begun to shut Ryan and Vanessa out. Max was living in her mind and through her pictures, seeing the world with them. Not living in it, but observing it. The pictures she took were amazing, and yet, disturbing. Disturbing, because many of them were clinical, without emotion, without soul just showing the brutal truth.  
But some, some were fantastic, capturing whoever viewed them with an emotion that they just couldn’t let go off.  
   
Eventually one of the two girls had to break down completely. And Chloe always being the one reacting outwards, couldn’t bear the emptiness she felt inside, sure she had a new friend, Rachel, but she wasn’t Max and never could be Max.  
   
On a sunny afternoon, at the 5’th anniversary of Max moving away, Chloe had wandered up to the lighthouse, and was now sitting on the bench there. She pulled out a joint from her jacket and lit it. She inhaled deeply, and slowly blew out smoke circles, cause that always seemed to relax her mind from all the shit in her life.  
The sun was shining brightly, beaming heat down, the sound of the birds and the sea nearby was setting a bright mood. But Chloe wasn’t even close to being in a bright mood. She fumbled in her pocket and grabbed her wallet, took out the picture that she always kept there. The one of her and Max as pirates. The one they had made sure they both had a copy of. Chloe’s copy had clearly seen better days, it was worn around the edges and the colors were fading. But Chloe revered it like the biggest treasure she had, it was a memory of happier days. She looked at it and mumbled to herself, “Max and Chloe forever”. As the memories came rushing in, so did her grief and sorrow over what she had done and that she had never gotten the courage to apologize to Max. It surfaced in such a powerful way, that Chloe couldn’t contain it. Her face frowned as she felt the tears pressing on and she tried hard to swallow the lump in her throat.  
   
“Max, I need you, why aren’t you here ? If you knew how much I regret the words I said, would you come back to me ?”, Chloe stated into the void as she looked into the horizon.  
   
“Just answer me please, I miss you so fucking much, and everything is going to shit in my life. I have to numb myself with drugs or alcohol or ANYTHING, just so I can go on without you”  
   
“I do have a friend and she keeps me going on, but she isn’t you Max”  
   
“For fucks sake Max, I love you, I always have, just come back. Please come back to me, I can’t live without you”, Chloe sobbed into the wind, her heart aching more and more with every word she uttered.  
   
“We were suppose to be forever Max, remember, REMEMBER !”  
   
Chloe knew that shouting into the wind wouldn’t help her. If she wanted Max back she had to try to get in touch with her. She would have to swallow her pride and for once in her life do what was the right thing to do. But something like that is never easy. What if Max would reject her, what if Max hated her. It had been so long now, and Chloe knew she was mainly to blame in all of this. Chloe felt old wounds open and she buried her head in her hands and cried even more. This was all her fault, and however much Chloe wants Max to be here right now, she is simply to insecure and scared to contact Max.  
   
In all of this Chloe hadn’t noticed the blonde girl with a blue feathered earring standing in the shadow of the lighthouse watching her. The girl who is Chloe’s friend now. The girl who loves Chloe, but knows she can never fill the hole in Chloe’s heart that Max left behind. Rachel knows.  
   
She loves Chloe, but Chloe loves Max.  
   
It’s always been Max.  
   
Rachel is certain that Max is the only one that can save Chloe. And Rachel loves Chloe so much, that she is willing to sacrifice everything she feels, to make sure Chloe is happy again.


	5. Is this Max ?

* * *

  **4 : Is this Max ?**

“Hello”  
   
“Uhm, Hi. Ehmm, is this Maxine Caulfield’s number ?”  
   
“Yes this is the number of the Caulfield residence, I’m Maxine’s father Ryan. Who is this ?”  
   
“Hi again, my name is Rachel, and you don’t know me, but I really need to speak with Maxine”  
   
“Rachel, are you one of Maxine’s friends ?”, Ryan asked with uncertainty in his voice.  
   
“No...No I’m not. I’m a friend of Chloe’s and I really do need to speak to Maxine”  
   
“Oook”, Ryan said and shook his head in disbelief, there was a name he hadn’t heard in a long time. He wished he had, but something had happened between Max and Chloe after they moved to Seattle that had changed both of them. He knew, Max had not spoken to Chloe since they left Arcadia bay, and Chloe had not contacted her either.  
He knew the timing of their move had been anything but ideal, and them telling Max at the last moment hadn’t helped either, but things had been decided upon before William had died. Ryan contemplated what might’ve been had they never left Arcadia bay, and this wasn’t the first time he had done it. He knew it was futile to think like this, but he just couldn’t help himself. He bowed his head, and to any onlookers he would’ve been seemingly lost to the world in that moment. After a moment he snapped out of it, maybe this was a line of hope, maybe this was what Max needed, what she needed to come back to them.  
   
He sighed deeply and spoke again, “I’m not sure it’s a good idea, Maxine doesn’t speak with anybody these days, well, except herself that is”  
   
“What do you mean ?”  
   
“It’s ahm, not important”, Ryan slapped himself internally for even saying what he had said,”I guess if you are a friend of Chloe it’s worth a shot.. I’ll try to ask her if she wants to get on the phone. Give me a minute or maybe ten”  
   
“Ok, I’ll wait”  
   
Ryan slowly trotted up the stairs and knocked on Max’s door,”Max, there is a phone call for you”  
   
“For me ? who is it “, who would call me, Max thought, “why haven’t they just call me directly instead of on the landline “, Max replied with a slight confusion in her voice.  
   
“I don’t know, she said her name was Rachel and that she is a friend of Chloe’s. She really needs to speak with you”, Ryan replied with a nervous waver in his voice.  
   
A friend of Chloe, why would a friend of Chloe want to speak with me ? Chloe hates me, Chloe despises me, no I can’t talk with her. Never  
   
“I don’t want to talk with her”  
   
“Maxine, please”  
   
“IT’S MAX NEVER MAXINE”, Max shouted, maybe a bit too loudly. See Chloe I can be feisty too, Max thought to herself. It was in all forms weird and strange, but Max had only been able to cope with her reality without Chloe by creating an imaginary Chloe who didn’t hate her and who was always there.  
   
“Just try Max please”, Ryan said with a slight desperation in his voice.  
   
Something in her father’s voice concerned Max, he sounded so desperate, like he needed her to do this. So Max decided to go along with it, If nothing else to make her dad happy.  
   
“Ok dad, I’ll be right down”, Max said with a sigh, and slowly got up.  
   
Ryan walked down the stairs, feeling somewhat glad that Max actually wanted to come and pick up the phone.  
   
“Hey again, Rachel ? I apologise for the wait, but Max needs a fair bit of pressure to grab the phone for anyone these days”  
   
“No worries, I have all the time in the world”  
   
Max slowly walked down the stairs, making sure not to fall. She was as clumsy as ever, so being careful was a daily routine for her by now. She always carried her camera around so she could view the world with it if she needed to. Pathetic really, but it was the only way she didn’t feel scared of the world, and she needed to not be scared right now.  
   
Max grabbed the phone from her dad’s hand and said, “Hi, this is Max”, though it came out slightly more angry and aggressive than she intended.  
   
“H-Hello Max, my name is Rachel” the girl at the other end replied, her voice slightly cracking.  
   
“Hi Rachel, what do you want ?”  
   
“I need to talk to you, it’s important and it’s complicated, but I’ll try to…”, Rachel sighed deeply into the phone,”Hmm, where do I begin. How much have you heard of Chloe in the last few years ?”  
   
“Nothing, I haven’t talked with her since we moved to Seattle”, Max said with some venom in her voice as she remembered how Chloe had hurt her. How she had hit her, pushed her to the ground. How her words had hurt more than anything else she could do. She wanted to end the phone call now, she didn’t want to go on, she didn’t want to be hurt again. She could already feel a way to familiar pain aching in her heart at the mentioning of Chloe and her arm started to move the phone away from her ear and hang up, when Rachel started to speak again as if she knew what Max was about to do.  
   
“Please, Max, please don’t hang up. There is something you need to know Max. Chloe doesn’t hate you, I don’t think she ever did. As far as I can tell she loves you more than anything. Ever since you left she’s been trying to self destruct, because she can’t live without you. Ever since I met her she’s been at it, and it’s killing me watching her slowly kill herself. I can’t save her Max, I tried so hard to, but I think you are the only one who can. Chloe needs you, but she is too scared and broken to contact you on her own, even to scared to ask me for help”, Rachel wasn’t sure how to continue, but she figured honesty would be the only way to go,”look Maxine, I..”  
   
“It’s Max, never Maxine”, Max promptly replied.  
   
“Ok, listen Max, I have to admit something, I love Chloe, I have loved her since we met the first time. But as time have passed I have realized that Chloe doesn’t love me, she loves you, and probably always have”, Rachel said this with a slight nervousness to her voice, wishing that this wouldn’t make Max hang up the phone, “Chloe always talks about how much better things would be if you were here. I try to help her do positive things because I can’t bear to see her hurt herself like she does. But Chloe is either blind or doesn’t care for my efforts”, Rachel sighed into the phone before continuing and she could feel the tears start to well up in her eyes,”The other day Chloe went to the lighthouse, I’m sure you are familiar with the spot she went to. She just sat there on the bench looking at a picture of you and her, while she cried and screamed into the wind how she missed you, and wished that would come back to her because she couldn’t go on without you”, Rachel was now full on crying as she tried to explain to Max how bad Chloe was,”Please Max, I can’t save Chloe, but you can, please save her, please come back and save her”, Rachel muttered out between sobs.  
   
Max had listened to a girl she didn’t know, confess that she loved Chloe, but that Chloe loved her, loved Max, needed Max. Max felt it again, she had to try, she had to do something. She hadn’t heard from Chloe in 5 years, but she also knew that Chloe and to some extent herself were incredibly stubborn bordering to being retarded. Also they were probably both equally scared of being rejected if they tried to make contact. All the old emotions and feelings she had about Chloe was coming back, and Max couldn’t ignore them any longer even if she tried. She had known it back when they left for Seattle and nothing had changed how she felt, just now she knew what it meant. Even if Chloe had shouted at her, had told her the worst things, Max understood now that she loved Chloe. That without her she couldn’t really live. That just as they did back then, they needed each other to be strong.  
   
“Rachel, I need to think this over”, Max said trying not to disclose the swirl of emotions she was feeling. Though in all actuality, wanting nothing more than to take a bus to Arcadia bay right now. But she couldn’t just do that. Max was sure that Rachel could hear she wasn’t telling the truth, since her voice sounded broken, but no matter.  
   
“My number is 345 556 778, you can send me a text so I can get your number and we can chat about it, ok Max ?”, Rachel said still sobbing into the phone.  
   
“Ok, I’ll chat to you later Rachel, bye for now”  
   
“Bye Max, and don’t forget”  
   
“I wont Rachel, I promise”, Max said remembering the vow that she and Chloe gave each other as children. Best friends forever. Max slowly hung up the phone and saw the scar on her wrist where her and Chloe had mixed blood. “best friends forever”, she said to herself.  
This was unexpected and slightly strange. A girl she doesn’t know, who loves Chloe, wants her to help Chloe be happy. Why ? Well, because Max is the only one who can make Chloe happy.  
   
There had to be a catch, something about this wasn’t right. But Max couldn’t ignore her feelings or her curiosity about Chloe. She wanted to see Chloe, to hear her voice again, to maybe feel happy again.  
   
Unbeknownst to her mom, dad and anyone really, Max had already sent a scholarship application to Blackwell in Arcadia bay, in part due to there being a great photography class, and especially because the teacher of said class was Mark Jefferson, a favorite of hers. But also because Chloe would be there. And Max needed to see Chloe, even if she didn’t want to admit it, she really missed Chloe and had done so since leaving Arcadia bay.  
Even before Rachel had called, Max had already decided that if she got into Blackwell she would go, almost no matter which of the other prestigious Schools she would get into. And now, with Rachel calling and telling her these things, Max was even more sure that she had to go, no matter what happened, she had to go. If Chloe self destructed because Max wasn’t there, that would also destroy Max. Max knew deep down, and had always known, that this was the case.  
   
She would of course discuss things with Rachel before revealing that she would go. But no need to tell Rachel these things right now.  
   
For the first time since they had left Arcadia Bay behind, Max felt a genuine reason to smile, so she did, much to the confusion of her dad. But then again, Ryan was just happy to see her smile again.


	6. Texting pain is plain

* * *

  **5 : Texting pain is plain**

After a week or so had passed Max texted Rachel. There were plenty of things that needed to be discussed. Max had so many questions, so many things she needed to know. But Max decided she didn’t want to reveal her own ideas to much and instead hear what Rachel had to say about things. So they sent each other their skype accounts and started chatting.  
   
Max : Hey Rachel, it’s Max. Let’s talk.  
   
Rachel : Sure thing Max :-)  
   
Max : I’ve been thinking a lot about this but I can’t seem to figure out how to go about this. I haven’t been to Arcadia bay for 5 years and if I just show up on Chloe’s doorstep I think she might get angry, happy or terrified, or all 3 at the same time.  
   
Rachel : Yes, you are right. Probably anger or rage will be what she turns to if you do, it’s usually how she reacts these days.  
   
Max : It’s not that I don’t want to, but I haven’t seen Chloe in 5 years and I live in Seattle, how can I go back ?  
   
Rachel : I thought about it. From what Chloe’s been saying you are a bit of a wiz kid with a camera, which is good, because we have one of the best photography classes in the country at Blackwell, now that Mark Jefferson have decided to teach here.  
   
Well, well, Max thought, Rachel might actually be thinking along the same lines as me. Let’s see what else she have to say.  
   
Max : The Mark Jefferson ? (Max of course already knew this, but she decided to play surprised)  
   
Rachel : The one and only, and the way Chloe speaks about your photo skills, I figured with your talents, getting a scholarship for your senior year should be a piece of cake.  
   
Max : Wait, how does she know about that, I mean she only got the things I made as a kid.  
   
Rachel : She’s been stalking your facebook account for years, she just too much of a chicken to contact you.  
   
Max : Doesn’t sound like the Chloe I knew, she wasn’t scared of anything.  
   
Rachel : She is probably scared of being rejected, after what she did and not hearing from you for 5 years, well I guess that’s the result.  
   
Max : I guess. Anyway It’s a good idea with the school, but I wouldn’t be there before late August moving in right before school starts, that’s in like 5 months  
   
Rachel : I have a plan for that too, my parents kinda have to much money but don’t care too much about me. So they always give me a lot of it so they don’t feel obligated to be a part of my life. So I thought, maybe we could rent a place in Arcadia where we could stay until you start at Blackwell.  
   
Max : Ok, well ehh, it does sound good, but I don’t know if my parents will allow it.  
   
Max nervously bit her lip before continuing to type.  
   
Max : I haven’t exactly been behaving like a normal person for a long time. You see Chloe isn’t the only one who’s been hurting these last years.  
   
Rachel : I figured as much. Something you want to talk about ?  
   
Max : I’m not sure, not yet at least. No offence Rachel but I don’t know you well enough yet to tell you these things.  
   
Rachel : It’s ok, took me a long time to get Chloe to trust me enough to even begin speaking about you. I think I might already have a fairly good idea about how you feel. But I doubt you have reacted to missing her as she have to missing you.  
   
Max : what do you mean ?  
   
Max typed this, all of a sudden feeling very anxious, had something happened to Chloe, was she not well or something because of her ?  
   
Rachel : Look Max, I think the Chloe that is now, is not entirely the same person you knew when you went to Seattle.  
   
Max : how so ?  
   
Rachel : She’s so full of anger, sadness and a fair bit of hate. But she’s also caring and tender. There is no off switch on her, she just swings straight from one end to the other without warning. She even shouts at her mom, and she sure as hell hates her step dad like the plague.  
   
Max : Poor Joyce, she would do anything for Chloe. Wait, step dad ?  
   
Rachel : Y, Joyce remarried. To the security chief of Blackwell no less, who is also ex military, so you can imagine Chloe’s life being tough.  
   
Max : Oh shit. Well I can’t imagine Chloe being ok with another man trying to take her dad's place. She adored her dad.  
   
Rachel : That’s putting it mildly, it’s like she hates him extra much just because of that. He is trying though, but he isn’t having an easy time since Chloe doesn’t even give him a chance. He is of course also behaving her like she is a soldier or something and that doesn’t exactly make it easier. Probably doesn’t know any other way to deal with people.  
   
Max : Y..well, I guess I’ll learn eventually. But anyway, you think me living with you is a good idea, I mean what would Chloe think if she found out ? you don’t think that might make things even harder ?  
   
Rachel : hmm, y, that might be a very obvious flaw in my plan. Any ideas ?  
   
Max : Well I have to ponder about this a bit more, but we’ll talk again Rachel.  
   
Rachel : Ok, don’t wait too long though, I’m pretty sure Chloe won’t last another year if she continues down her current path.  
   
Max : I won’t, I promise.  
   
Rachel : Later Maxie.  
   
Max : ttyl Rachel.  
   
Max were happy. Chloe needed her, still needed her, as much as Max needed Chloe. Chloe had been hurting all these years too. Why had she never contacted her. Not one text, not a single apology that could have changed everything. Nothing. Was Chloe scared..no that couldn’t be, Chloe Price wasn’t scared of anything or ?  
Maybe it was for the same reasons Max hadn’t contacted Chloe. She was afraid of rejection, scared that Max was still angry, that maybe Max hated her after what she said to her all those years ago. Oh Chloe, I could never hate you, was the first thought that shot into Max’s mind, and she understood she had to be there for Chloe, she had to save her. There were no more excuses. Max started making somewhat of a plan in her head, after a while it was as perfect as she could make it. Max was now only waiting for one thing, the answer to her application for Blackwell


	7. Preparations

* * *

  **6 : Preparations**

“Hey Pumpkin, there are more letters for you”,  Ryan shouted from downstairs.

The letters had been arriving steadily for the last week or so, 2-3 a day, all from the different schools Max had applied to all over the country. Though for now, still no answer from Blackwell Academy.  
   
Max rushed down the stairs, almost stumbling a few times, it made Ryan smile, it had been a long time since he had seen his little girl so excited and dared he say, happy ?.  
   
“Hey, hey pumpkin, take it easy, wouldn’t want to stumble so close to success now would you ?”, Ryan cautioned.  
   
Max answered by sticking her tongue out at him and smiling,”Don’t worry dad, I won’t stumble”  
   
Ryan just shook his head with the kinda smile on his face that only a parent can have. He stuck out his hand that was holding the letters, “Here you go pumpkin, more letters for you”  
   
Max snatched them out of his hand, looking at the top one, she could see the logo was from School of the Art Institute of Chicago, which happened to be one of the best in the country, if not the best,”Holy shit dad, this one is from Chicago, that’s like the best of the best”, Max almost whispered. Her heart was beating a little faster, she hadn’t told anyone she applied there, if she got in there, well not only would it be like 2 years or so before she normally could, but she might even have to somewhat put the rescue Chloe mission on hold, or maybe ask her and maybe Rachel to come there with her. Would Chloe even do that, hmm she probably would, even back when they were kids Chloe had talked about getting out of Arcadia Bay.  
   
With shaking fingers Max opened the letter.  
   
The letter read :  
   
_Dear Maxine Caulfield_  
  
_We regret that we are not able to offer you admission to our photography program yet._

_When you read this, please do not take it as a downright rejection, for that it is not._

_Y_ _ou have an impressive portfolio and a very good eye for one so young, but we at the faculty feel that a little more time and experience will do you well._

_Given a few more years, and the tutelage of an experienced photographer, your portfolio will be outstanding and we would then be more than happy to accept another application from you._

_If we may, we have a few suggestions as to schools you could apply to where you could get tutelage of an experienced photographer._  
   
The letter went on a bit longer with a list of suggested schools and which photography teacher was there. Among them were Blackwell, and Mark Jefferson.

Max took a deep sigh,”Dammit, they didn’t accept my application”  
   
Ryan looked at his daughter a little in surprise,”I didn’t even know you applied to that school, I mean it’s one of the best in the country isn’t it ? could I see that letter ?”, Max handed him the letter.  
   
Ryan looked it over, frowned a little, but then lit up in his characteristic dad smile,”It’s not that bad pumpkin, they even give you advice as to which schools you could apply to. Have you applied to any of them ?”  
   
“Maybe”  
   
“Even Blackwell in Arcadia Bay ?”  
   
Max looked down to the ground and mumbled,”yes”, so silent Ryan almost couldn’t hear it.  
   
“You got an answer from any of them yet ?”  
   
“Yes, all except Blackwell”  
   
“Any of them you want to go to ?”  
   
Max smirked and said,“Pretty much all of them dad, but I’m waiting for Blackwell before I decide”, Max once again looked down at her feet.  
   
“Aha”, Ryan said,”So when you have the choice of everything, you still want to wait for the Blackwell one”, Ryan was thinking as he talked, and he was slowly getting an idea as to why his little girl wanted to wait for Blackwell to answer before deciding.”Have this something to do with a friend you were forced to leave behind a long time ago ?”  
   
“No dad, not at all, it’s just they have Mark Jefferson as teacher there and he is one of my favourite photographers”, Max rambled, but she spoke the words to fast and stumbled over them, she even bit her lip and stepped on her feet too, exposing her lie.  
   
Ryan noticed it and knew she was lying and that he'd probably been more or less right in one try. But he didn’t want to fret his baby girl about it. He knew her and Chloe had been close and that the move had come at pretty much the worst possible time, so he let her lie slide, she probably only did it so he wouldn’t worry about her.  
   
“Alright then pumpkin, why don’t you open the rest of the letters”.  
   
Max proceeded to open them, but they weren’t from Blackwell, so not really interesting to her. Well, except one, it had been sent from Arcadia Bay, so it was some what interesting. Her name and address was on it in a beautiful and stylish handwriting. Max wondered who it could be from. “I’m going to my room dad”  
   
“What about the last letter, you haven’t opened it”  
   
“It’s clearly a private letter dad, so none of your business what it contains”, Max said, and winked at her dad.  
   
Ryan was slightly taken aback by his daughter being sassy with him, but he kinda liked that she was a lot more lively these days, so he used his jovial dad laughter, “Well alright then, let me know if it’s from some prince charming that I need to give the dad speech”  
   
“Who says I want a prince”, Max said under her breath as she rushed up the stairs. She closed the door to her room and sat at her desk.  
   
She opened the letter and took out its content. Some paper and 3 photos of a beautiful girl Max didn’t know. It said, use heat from lighter on paper. So Max went downstairs again to fetch a lighter.  
   
“Down so soon ? you sure there isn’t a prince charming I need to deal with ?”, Ryan said with a chuckle.  
   
“Dad, really !”, Max quickly found the lighter and went up the stairs again.  
As she got back at her desk she lit the lighter and held it under the paper and as she moved it letters started appearing. Sweet, a secret letter, Max thought. When she was done exposing all the words, she read it.  
   
_Hey Max_  
  
_It’s me Rachel sending you a letter. I figured I might as well make it secret and shit, cause you know, we have a mission so can’t risk anyone finding out about it. Thinking that, might be a bit stupid I wrote on it to use a lighter._  
  
_Anyway, I thought I would send you a few pictures of me so you at least could see how I look. And no, Chloe haven’t taken them, she sucks at taking photos, but you probably already know that. It’s a girl called Victoria that took them, back when I were still friends with her. That’s a long story that I can’t tell on paper anyway._  
  
_Also I do kinda like the whole feeling of sending you a letter like this. I bet you don’t get that many letters from people anymore. It’s kinda sad really, a letter is so much more personal than a text._  
  
_But anyway, I really hope you got into Blackwell so we can start planning the summer, It’s getting quite frustrating not knowing if it’ll be ok or everything will go to shit._  
  
_Chat me up soon, miss you_  
  
_Xoxo Rachel_  
   
Max couldn’t help but smile, Rachel was right. Even if the letter wasn’t really containing any secrets, so it hadn’t needed all the invisible text, it was very nice to get one. It made Max feel a little special in a way. She took the pictures up and looked at them. Rachel was really pretty, Max could definitely see her as a model in the future, or a moviestar. Alas, Max still hadn’t gotten a reply from Blackwell, so Rachel would have to wait a little.

* * *

A few more days passed, a week, and Max’s hope was starting to falter. But then, the letter from Blackwell Academy came, and it was positive, Max were even offered a full scholarship.  
   
Max showed it to Ryan as she hugged him, and he knew that Max wanted to go there, and would go there no matter what he or Vanessa would tell her to do. But he would do whatever it took to have his daughter happy. If going to Blackwell was it, then he would help her, even if it meant his wife being pissed at him.  
Why oh why did he have to live with the two most stubborn women in the universe, he thought and smiled to himself.  
   
“What you smiling at dad ?”  
   
“Nothing in particular pumpkin, don’t you worry about it”, Ryan said with a smile.  
   
Max got out of the hug and ran upstairs. Ryan could almost sense her excitement as she did. Yes, his daughter would most definitely go to Blackwell, no matter what he or Vanessa wanted her to.  
   
Max rushed into her room and closed the door, she opened up her laptop. Max had now gotten letters from all the schools she had applied to. They were all positive with the exception of the one in Chicago, but it had been a long shot anyway, so she could go pretty  much anywhere she wanted to. But she wanted to go to Blackwell and nowhere else.  
   
She couldn’t wait to tell Rachel about it. Her and Rachel had been planning for a while now how things could work out, and the plan they had come up with was ok, not bulletproof, but ok.  
   
Max : you there Rach ?  
   
Rachel : y Max, I’m here  
   
Max : I got into every single school I applied too, Blackwell too, even with a full scholarship for my senior year.  
   
Rachel : You go girl, that’s awesome. You must have some pretty amazing skills to get a full scholarship.  
   
Max : I’m not so sure about it. I had sent one to Chicago but they didn’t accept me...yet. I just hope Mark Jefferson will like my photos and not think I’m a retro hippie since I only shoot with my ancient polaroid camera.  
   
Rachel : I’m sure he is already impressed, after all, he is one of the people judging the applicants that get into his class with a scholarship.  
   
Max : Oh, I didn’t know that  
   
Max felt a little proud to know this and a small smile was slowly forming on her lips.  
   
Rachel : And btw, why’d you say Chicago didn’t accept you yet. What did they write ?  
   
Max : Something along the lines of, need the tutelage of an experienced photographer, more time and more experience and then they would be glad to have me.  
   
Rachel : Wow, that’s, wow. It’s like the best in the country isn’t it ?  
   
Max : Maybe. Anyway, now I just have to convince my parents to let me go to Blackwell. Since I practically got into every school I applied to they’ll definitely want me to attend a school closer to here.  
   
Rachel : Good luck Max. But I’m sure you can do it :-)  
   
Max : I sure hope so, otherwise I ‘ll have to pull the I’ll be 18 soon so I should decide on my own, card, and I’d hate to pull that on mom and dad just yet..I might need it later ;-)  
   
Max : I’ll text you later what happens  
   
Rachel : kk Max, ttyl.  
   
Later that day Max sat down with her parents and talked things over. Predictably Max’s mom wanted her to attend one of the schools in Seattle, so she would be near to them. She argued her point pretty strongly. Much to Max’s surprise Ryan was trying to be on her side without pissing Vanessa off to much. He had always been the peacemaker when trouble arose in the Caulfield residence.

Max indulged her mom for a while, but in the end told that she wanted to go to Blackwell because of Mark Jefferson being there, and she would refuse to go to any other school.

Vanessa did not like the idea. Mainly due to Max’s increasingly introvert nature, but also her inability to find new friends in Seattle. Also the fact that it would mean her returning to Arcadia bay, a place she knew contained both good and very bad memories for her, was weighing heavily against it.

But Max argued that it wasn’t really their decision to make, she had a scholarship and she could go whether they wanted it or not.

Vanessa then pulled the you are not 18 yet card.

Ryan knew Max wanted to go there and knew there was no winning this argument without him and Vanessa losing Max. So he said that he thought it was unfair that Vanessa did that just because Max didn’t want to go to the school she wanted her to go to. He felt it wasn’t really their decision to make because Max should decide her own future.

Vanessa in turn, gave him the you are so dead look, that Ryan knew he would get, but eventually under the pressure from both Ryan and Max, she caved.  
   
Max hadn’t told them about the plan her and Rachel had, about Max going to Arcadia bay as soon as her semester in May was over. It would be even harder to convince them about that, and she might have to pull her own ‘I’m a young adult card’ on them to push that through. But all in good time.  
Anyway, her and Rachel still had to finalize the details of the plan before it could happen. But at least now, Max knew she was going back. Back to face the storm, her storm.


	8. Destiny strikes out

* * *

  **7 : Destiny strikes out**  
 

Max had been talking with Rachel a lot lately. Max felt like she knew Rachel, even if they had never met in real life. The two of them had weirdly enough bonded, despite knowing that Rachel also had feelings for Chloe.

Max began to see Rachel as a close friend. Well not that Max had that much experience in the friends department, she only had 1 in her entire life, 2 if you counted her old teddy bear and 3 if you counted imaginary Chloe. But only 1 real friend.  
   
As they talked more and more, Rachel got to know a lot more about Max, and Max got to know a lot more about Rachel. Max even sent Rachel a few pictures since Rachel had sent her some.  
   
Max the skinny pale hipster with short brown hair, big blue eyes and a gazillion freckles. Rachel the beautiful blonde bombshell, looking like a model in the making. Who would’ve thought they could become friends.  
   
Max couldn’t understand how Chloe loved her over Rachel. Rachel was amazing, smart, beautiful. Every man and womans dream she thought. But best not to overthink things.  
   
Rachel on the other hand could clearly understand why Chloe loved Max. It wasn’t about stunning looks, it was about personality. Not that Max was ugly, but when Max had a passion about something she burned like the clearest flame. It was clear with her photography, of which she had shown Rachel more than a few examples of. And now also with the plan about coming back to Arcadia bay and rekindling what she had with Chloe.  
Rachel understood it more and more each time they talked, and in truth, she was a little jealous that Max’s flame burned for Chloe and not her.  
   
Max : Hey Rach, how are you ?  
   
Rachel : Hey Max, last exam is finally done..Gotta keep them grades up, aiming high. How about you ?  
   
Max : I had my last exam yesterday.  
   
Rachel : Excellent. So when are you ready to come here ?  
   
Max : That’s the shitty thing. I can’t be there until mid August. My parents told me today that they want to take me on some huge road trip over the summer, and they aren’t taking no for an answer. Believe me, I tried.  
   
Rachel : Fuck :(  
   
Max : Yes I know, you had hoped to spend time with the amazing Maxine Caulfield aspiring star photographer.  
   
Rachel : It’s not only that. I had hoped maybe the summer could be awesome, just the three of us together.  
   
Max : Y, me too, but look at the bright side, you’ll get to see the awesome photo’s I’ll be taking on the road trip.  
   
Rachel : Y, I guess.  
   
Max : Rach, what is really up ?  
   
Rachel : It’s just been a shitty day, well week. This girl at Blackwell have been getting to me more than usual lately  
   
Max : Who ?  
   
Rachel : Victoria, one of the girls here, her family is rich and she behaves like she owns the place. Totally hates me though cause I don’t play to her tune, and everyone likes me more than her.  
   
Max : Ahh, that was the girl who took the photos of you that you sent to me isn’t it ?  
   
Rachel : Y. It’s a long story.  
   
Max : Want to tell it ?  
   
Rachel : Maybe when you get to Blackwell, I’ll tell you  
   
Max : Awwww, and here I thought I were your bestie. But anyway she sounds kinda like a bitch  
   
Rachel : Lol, she is, but I’m one of the people that know there is more to her than meets the eye.  
   
Max : how so ?  
   
Rachel : She is insecure and scared, probably also more than a little jealous. She even has a bit of a crush on me, even more so after one of the Vortex parties where I gave her a little kiss for the fun of it. I also caught her more than once sneaking glances at me in the locker room after gym class. Often she pretends she isn’t looking. But anyway I think her being a bitch is just a front to keep everyone else from tearing her down.  
   
Max : Wait what, you playing two horses Rach ? You’ll have to tell me that story now, or you’ll have me wondering all summer...and how dare she look at you, it’s not like you are super hot or anything ;)  
   
Rachel : Hey, I may look like a model but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid and you know it ;) and the story is one you’ll get when you get here ! ;)  
   
Max : Owwwww, so unfair..you she devil you. Anyway, I know you are a devious evil genius who is behind all the secret stuff at Blackwell  
   
Rachel : Lol, sometimes Max, I don’t know where you get those things from ;)  
   
Max : Me neither. But you gonna do something about her ?  
   
Rachel : Nah, next semester I’ll have you and Chloe around, who gives a fuck about some rich entitled bitch.  
   
Max : You are the one who brought her up, so clearly you do  
   
Rachel : I do and I don’t. It’s just sometimes she gets to me. Why does people have to be mean and stupid sometimes. If she would just show who she really is I’m sure everyone would like her more instead of now where they just pretend out of fear. I might even like her more.  
   
Max : I don’t think I understand ?  
   
Rachel : When you get here you will Max, I’m pretty sure she’ll rip into you.  
   
Max : I hope not, but anyway. I’m not as weak as I look you know.  
   
Rachel : Me Max, Me smash..rawrrrrrr  
   
Max : LOL, just imagine me and my tiny frame going hulk mode. Talk about an instant youtube hit ;)  
   
Rachel : LOL, y, that would be fucking hilarious. Anyway, I’m good, I can deal with her shit. Not so sure I can deal with an entire summer without chatting you up everyday.  
   
Max : Don’t tell me you have fallen for my irresistible freckled charms  
   
Rachel : Maybe a little  
   
Max : WHAT !  
   
Rachel : Gotcha ;) lol  
   
As Rachel wrote this she wished she could really tell Max that she actually HAD fallen a little for her. But she knew it was about Max and Chloe and that she shouldn’t get in the way of destiny. Her own feelings for Chloe, and now for Max too, was something she had to keep a lid on, no matter how much it would end up hurting herself.  
   
Max : You are such a tease. No wonder Victoria hates and secretly loves you.  
   
Rachel : Oh, jealous much ?  
   
Max : Not in the slightest  
   
Rachel : Not even at me spending all summer with Chloe  
   
Max : Ouch, low blow Rach, low blow  
   
Rachel : Sorry Max, I didn’t mean that, it’s just I had hoped we’d be spending the summer together. Fuck, our plan is really going down the drain isn’t it ?  
   
Max : Not entirely, I’m still going to be at Blackwell. I just won’t be in Arcadia Bay during the summer.  
   
Rachel : And that means reconnecting with Chloe will be even harder I guess, cause she’ll know, that you’ve known for a while, that you’d be going to Blackwell and haven’t contacted her.  
   
Max : Pfff, it’s not like Chloe have made any major attempts at contacting me either, so she’ll deal with it.  
   
Rachel : You could send her a text saying you got accepted to Blackwell and will be returning to Arcadia Bay. One of you have to take the first step, doesn’t matter who.  
   
Max : Y...You are right, I should just do it. Chloe would never do it, considering she’s had all of 5 years to send me an apology and still haven’t done it.  
   
Rachel : So you’ll text her ?  
   
Max : Today, I swear  
   
Rachel : Pinky swear  ;-)  
   
Max : Pinky swear  
   
Rachel : Awesome :-) I’m going to hang out with Chloe later. Hopefully she’ll have gotten the message by then.  
   
Max : Y, I’ll send one right now  
   
Rachel : Super MAX to the rescue ;-)  
   
Max : Just Max, Rach !!! ;-)  
   
Rachel : Ok, Ok ;)..ttyl  
   
Max : You sure will :-)  
   
Max was sitting there after ending the conversation with Rachel, almost disbelieving herself. She had just promised to contact Chloe, to send a text to her..like, right now. All Max’s anxieties came back with a vengeance and she got tunnel vision and felt herself almost going to black out. NO..NO I refuse to be like this, Max thought to herself. She slowly got control over her breathing and her heartbeat. With a deep sigh she started writing a text to Chloe. This was it.  
   
Max : _Hi Chloe, it’s Max. Yes, that Max. I..I miss you. I know I should’ve said it long ago, but the way we parted left me scared, rejected and alone. As time went on, it was just easier to not do anything. I’m sorry Chloe, I’m sorry for not being there, I’m sorry for everything even if none of it was my fault. But, I got accepted into Blackwell, can you believe it ? I’m going to be in Arcadia Bay by mid august. I hope maybe you’ll want to see me again..Let the past be the past and maybe we can be friends again...I..Just..Please don’t reject me Chloe, I don’t think I can handle it if you do it again. We’ll talk soon, ok ?_  
   
Max reviewed her text, fuck, it sounded so sappy, sad and slightly desperate..not to mention it was long...Fuck it, Max pressed send. A few seconds later she got a message received note on her phone.

Now all she could do was wait for a reply. Please Chloe, please reply, Max thought to herself.

* * *

In Arcadia Bay, in a child's cabinet, an old cell phone lit up for a brief moment, gave a weak message received sound and then went silent. Chloe, who had just been to the shower and were drying her bright blue hair, barely heard it. She stopped her motion, hmm, what was that ? , she shrugged, Oh well probably nothing.

She picked her clothes and threw them on, she was late for picking up Rachel and have a few beers, maybe a joint at American Rust. She grabbed her smartphone, keys and a few other things from her desk and stashed them in her pocket. Chloe rushed down the stairs, opened the door and stormed out towards her car.

Ripping the door open she jumped into her old rusty piece of shit truck. She fumbled a bit with the key, almost slipping through her fingers due to the worn robot panda keychain being in dire need of a replacement. But it was the last bd gift she had gotten from Max, so Chloe never could get herself to get another one. She finally managed to hit the keyhole, turned the key and the engine came to life. Chloe reversed onto the street with a screech, took a look at her Phone and the message from Rachel.

_I have a special surprise for you tonight, so let’s have some fun, see you xoxo Rach_

Without another thought she gunned the engine and roared down the street towards Blackwell.


	9. Can you feel it in the air tonight

* * *

  **8 : Can you feel it in the air tonight**

Chloe arrived at Blackwell, double parking the truck on the handicapped spots since it was the only spots left. Chloe didn't give two fucks if she got another parking ticket, and anyway she wouldn't be staying long, she was just here to pick up Rachel. Chloe looked around at all the expensive cars there, she couldn't help thinking, fucking rich kids and their fucking expensive cars. Another thought entered her mind, maybe I should scratch them with my keys, just a little. Chloe felt a smug smile grace her face at the thought. She pulled out her keys and let one of them slide over the nearest car, a silver Mercedes cabriolet, leaving a long deep scar on its paint job. Satisfied with the damage, she put the keys back into her pocket.  
   
Now, where the fuck was Rachel. One could say a lot of things about her, but Rachel was usually on time. Especially when Chloe was going to spend time with her, Chloe knew that much.

She jumped onto the hood of her truck, grabbed her phone and sent a quick text to Rachel  
   
Chloe : Hey Rach, come out come out wherever you are, your punk monster is here  
   
Chloe waited for a minute, growing increasingly impatient. But there was No reply. So she quickly sent another text  
   
Chloe : oh come on Rach..I’m only like 5 minutes late today, don’t be like this  
   
Still no reply.  
   
This was new to Chloe, Rachel always replied. Most of the time immediately. Something must’ve happened, or maybe she had suddenly gotten sick, or something else. Chloe felt the cold sweat starting to appear in the palm of her hands. Fuck if something had happened to Rachel, fuck fuck fuck. Rachel was the only thing keeping her together since..Since Max. No, no, I won’t go there, Rachel is my only friend now, Chloe thought. She jumped off the hood of her truck and in her worry started walking at an elevated pace towards the dorms.  
   
When she got to them, Victoria and her two slaves were sitting at the door, being ever so slightly in the way. Their relation to Chloe was simple, she hated them, and they hated her. Or at least that's what it was on the surface. In truth Chloe just hated that they all had a golden stick up their ass, and they disliked Chloe, because she was friends with Rachel.  
   
“Move it bitches, I need to get in”, Chloe sneered at the 3 girls.  
   
“Says who ? the loser who’ll be kicked out soon”, Victoria retorted.  
   
Chloe balled up her fists, but at first didn’t bother getting back at her. She just stepped forward and over Victoria's head, much to Victoria's dismay.

Victoria didn't see the anger in Chloe's body language, so she tried to verbally scare her into obedience.

"You can't just walk over me like this, don't you fucking know who I am ? I'll get you fucking kicked out for shit like this", Victoria said.

It's just, Chloe wasn't scared at all. Chloe didn't care about Victoria's threats, in fact it just made her even more angry. Chloe stopped and turned around, anger in her eyes, ready to drop molten lave onto Victoria's face. Chloe grabbed Victoria, lifted her off the ground and slammed her forcefully against the door to the dorm.

“You know what, Fuck you Bitchtoria !", Chloe growled with an anger that made Victoria visibly scared, all of a sudden Victoria's confidence was gone, "If it wasn’t for your family's money the entire world would be stepping on you”, Chloe said with poison on her tongue, ”Even your two slaves here wouldn’t give a fuck about you. You are just an insecure little bitch. If I wasn't in a hurry to be somewhere else, I'd teach you a lesson right here, right now, that you'd never forget. Anyway, I don’t have time to spend with a spineless fuckup like you, I got better things to do”, Chloe spat out as she let go of Victoria who slowly slid down the door until she was on her ass. Chloe looked at her with a look of pity and disgust, then spat right between her legs, before opening the door to the dorms going inside.

Chloe didn’t notice how Victoria Flinched at her words and ever so slightly lost her composure. She didn’t notice that she was right, and that Victoria knew it. That Victoria in reality was a scared insecure teenager, hiding behind an image of the untouchable ice queen. Chloe Price had been entirely to angry and focused on thinking about where in the world Rachel was, and why she hadn’t replied.  
   
Chloe strided through the hallway of the dorm and quickly reached Rachel's room and knocked at the door.  
   
“Rachel open up, I know you are in there you bitch. It’s not funny girl, open up”, Chloe said loudly not wanting her nervousness to show.  
   
The door stayed closed though. Chloe grabbed the doorknob, twisted it and the door opened. Weird, Rachel's door was usually locked, even when she was in her room. Inside, the room looked like usual, but Rachel was nowhere to be seen. Chloe started getting really worried, and she felt a lump form in her throat. Maybe Rachel was outside by the car instead, but her door should be locked then. Chloe was confused, what the fuck was going on. She ran through the dorm. Once she got outside Courtney tried to stop her, but Chloe pushed her flat on her ass and headed straight for her car, ignoring the outburst Of Taylor, Courtney and Victoria completely.

When she got there her heart sank, Rachel wasn’t there. When Chloe checked, there was still no reply to the message Chloe had sent her earlier. What the hell. Chloe was now officially panicking. This just couldn’t fucking be happening. Everyone in her life just up and left her, now Rachel too. Rachel where the fuck are you...fuck fuck fuckkkkkkkk. Chloe got into her truck, started it up and headed towards American Rust. Maybe Rachel would be there, maybe she had gone ahead on her own. Yes, that must be what she had done. It had to be what she had done, Chloe desperately thought.

* * *

Max stared at her phone, one hour had passed since she had sent the message to Chloe, no reply yet. Her heart started sinking, of course Chloe wouldn’t reply to her. It had been 5 years after all. I’ll text Rachel and tell her.  
   
Max : Hey Rachel, Chloe haven’t replied to me, what should I do ?  
   
She waited a couple of minutes, but no reply from Rachel, which was odd cause she used to reply almost instantaneously all the other times.  
   
Max : Rachel is everything ok ? answer please, I'm freaking out here !  
   
Still no reply. Max got a little worried. what the hell. Had Rachel just been stringing her along for shits and giggles or was something wrong  ? No, nothing was wrong, she’d wait a little longer and try again. Rachel was probably just in the shower. Yes that was it, she was in the shower. She had said she'd hang with Chloe tonight so she was probably just getting ready for it. she’d reply soon. Max tried to convince herself of it, but deep down she knew something was up.

* * *

The echo of a message received sound could be heard, as it reflected of the concrete walls decorated with disturbing imagery of bound and helpless women.

“So, Rachel knows Max. This is interesting”, a tall slender figure said to himself, “I guess I can exploit that later, but for now, I have some photos to take. Are you ready my little muse ? I really am sorry for the get up here, but I can’t have you being all loud and noisy”  
   
Rachel closed her eyes and whimpered into the gag in her mouth. She should’ve seen this coming, why didn’t she notice it. Thinking back she remembered certain things that should’ve set her alarms off about him. But she hadn’t noticed, she’d been to infatuated with him, she'd let him get under her radar. She felt the sharp sting of the needle, as it slid into her neck. The world slowly turned black and she drifted into the endless night.

“Maybe now, you can be still you stupid bitch so I can get some good shots in”, the figure said as he stood in the darkness. He moved slightly into the light. His distinct glass’s and immaculate clothes gave him the look that so many women desired, yet none could have. Mark Jefferson was all about taking the shot whenever it presented itself, and now, now while Rachel was out, he could take some good shots. Maybe the best he ever would. Well at least until he could get this Max girl. He had seen the photo of her on Rachel’s phone and knew it had to be the girl he had accepted to his class with a full scholarship. It had to be her, so innocent and sweet. She would be the best muse he’d ever have, not like this bitch in front of him. Well maybe he could photograph them both together, innocence with a slut..Yes, yes, that could work. He smiled at himself, happy with his idea as he clicked away at the unconscious Rachel long into the night.


	10. Arcadia Bay homecoming

* * *

  **9 : Arcadia Bay homecoming**

Rachel hadn’t replied Max for a couple of months now. Max was worried, well panicking might be a better word. She had tried to enjoy the trip with her parents and also did manage to take quite a few photo’s. But, she’d sent..well maybe a thousand messages to Rachel. They all seemed to have reached Rachel’s phone, but Max never got an answer. Just like she never got an answer from Chloe. Hell she even tried to call Rachel a few times, but it only went onto her voicemail. So yes, Max’s anxieties were back with a vengeance.  
   
And now, now it was time to go to Blackwell. All her stuff was packed and ready, but Max wasn’t sure how to approach this without Rachel. She would be alone when she arrived, and have no friends in a, to her, new place. Max had gone on with the plan without Rachel, packing all her old mementos of her and Chloe. Though she was really nervous about what would happen now, since she had no idea of Rachel’s or Chloe's whereabouts. Because of it, she also had no idea about whether or not Chloe had gotten her message, and how she had reacted if she did. Even if Chloe had gotten her message, she hadn’t replied to it, and that didn’t make Max any less nervous.  
   
Max was in other words scared shitless, almost to the point where she was trying to convince herself not to go. But in the end, she went anyway.  
   
Max’s parents insisted that they drove her to Blackwell to help to move her things into the dorm. The drive there wasn't really eventful, Max slept most of the way, and when she didn't sleep she was lost in thoughts. When they got to Blackwell, the sun was high in the sky and it was a scorching hot day.

Vanessa argued that they should wait until later to move the stuff in, since it was so hot.

Ryan just laughed and said it was no problem, he'd carry everything on his own.

As they moved Max's stuff in, some student's that had already arrived looked curiously at Max. Well, actually most of the girls looked at her dad. This in itself was no wonder, even in his mid forties Ryan looked great and could put every single one of the jocks at Blackwell to shame physically. Tall, strong and with a smile that could melt even an ice queens heart on a winters day, yep, all the girls eyes were on him. It only made matters worse when his white t-shirt eventually became a see through, because of him sweating, showing off his well trained upper body. If he had bothered, he would've heard more than a few young girls sigh wistfully as he walked past.

Max was fully aware of it though and decided to just stay in her room and arrange things as he moved them. Mainly because the first time they had walked over the lawn towards the dorm rooms, she had heard a blonde cheer leader type girl, wonder how big her dad was in another department. Max had blushed hard when she heard it, and her dad, oblivious to it, had wondered if she had been burnt by the sun when they had arrived at her room.

Eventually they were done moving her stuff in, they took a short break. Vanessa used it to borrow Max's laptop to find a place to eat. Max and Ryan took a tiny nap.

As the day had turned into afternoon, they went out to have dinner together at some fancy place that Max quickly forgot the name of. She was much to nervous by now to remember it anyway. Her mind was doing a thousand miles an hour trying to make some sort of game plan. She hadn't seen Rachel at the dorm's at all, and Rachel had said she lived there in their conversations.  
   
As they waited to order, Ryan noticed that she wasn’t quite herself.  
   
“Hey pumpkin, something wrong ?”  
   
“Uh, no. Just nervous about being alone here when you leave I guess”, Max replied nervously.  
   
“You have our number, you can call us anytime and we’ll come down”, he said and smiled reassuringly.  
   
“Yes, just call and we’ll be right there”, Vanessa chirped in.  
   
“I know, thanks”, Max replied with a smile,”I love you guys”  
   
“We love you too pumpkin” they replied in unison.

"And if there is a prince charming I need to beat the shit out of, just give me his...", Ryan said, but never got to finish when Vanessa cut him off.

"Ryan, really", Vanessa said, "I thought we agreed that you couldn't do that"

"Come on, hon. She's my babygirl, I'll protect her no matter what"

"I think she knows that already. But our little girl is a grown up soon. We should let her deal with her own problems"

Max was surprised at her mothers words. Usually it was the other way around. Ryan wanting to let her make her own decisions and face the consequences of them, and Vanessa not able to let her go.

"I know", Ryan said, his smile growing a little sad, "It's just"

"I know", Vanessa said, putting her hand on top of his as she looked into his eyes, "To us, she'll always be a little babygirl that we have to protect"

"Yeah", Ryan said and choked up a little.

"Hey you two, don't be sad. I promise I'll keep in touch with you. I'll call and send emails", Max said trying to lift the spirit a little.

"You better, or I'll come down here and bring you home myself", Vanessa said, sporting a tear in her eye.

A discrete, "hmm-hmm", made them look up and they noticed the waiter was there, "you ready to order sir ?"

Ryan looked at the two women in his life and then nodded, "Yes we are".

They all ordered the food they wanted and the rest of the meal they chatted about this and that. Max pushed her thoughts somewhat into the background and tried to enjoy the meal.  
   
After this, they all went to Blackwell, Ryan and Vanessa hugged and kissed Max goodbye. Vanessa couldn't hold back her tears and even Ryan got emotional. After Max reassuring them several times, that she would be fine, they got in their car and drove off. Max was left standing in the parking lot, waving at the car driving away.

She noticed a boy standing close to the stairs of the parking lot, seemingly waiting for her to walk over. When she didn't, he moved towards her.  
   
When he got close to her, she noticed that he seemed somewhat nervous. He cleared his throat a little, “Hi, are you new here”, a light boyish voice came out, it almost sounded like he hadn't grown up yet, ”I’m Warren”  
   
“Well duh, what gave that away”, Max said, “Maybe me standing all alone here waving at a car driving into the horizon was what did the trick ?”,  the sarcasm dripping with every word, and Max almost instantly regretted her salty answer.  
   
“Hey, no need to be so rude, I’m just saying hi”, Warren said  
   
Max bowed her head, and let her breath out, “Sorry Warren. One of those days you know. And, Hi, my name is Max”, she said in a much nicer tone.  
   
“Oh, you’re that new girl that’s suppose to start in Mr.Jefferson’s class this semester”, Warren said.  
   
“Yeah, that would be me”,  Max stated, feeling slightly uncomfortable, how did this kid know this ?  
   
“I’d have you know he’s been touting your horn big time, saying some hot shot photography girl would be in his class this semester”, Warren said as he looked at her with slight admiration.  
   
“Really ?”, Max said in disbelief.  
   
“Yes, he’s been raving about how skilled you are with nothing but a Polaroid camera”, Warren said, “ I can tell you right now, the queen bitch doesn’t like it one bit”  
   
“Who ?”, max asked.  
   
“Victoria ! Her and Nathan Prescott are the dominant couple here. They pretty much run this place”, Warren said with no small amount of distaste in his voice, showing quite clearly that he wasn’t a friend of theirs.  
   
“Oh, I heard about this Victoria from a friend, she’s not that bad is she ?”, Max said.  
   
“Not that bad !”, Warren said as he made a face, “Oh my god, she is soooo gonna wreck you”  
   
“What do you mean ? It's not like I've ever done anything to her“  
   
“Pfft, you exist and Mr.Jefferson said you'd probably be his new favourite student. That pissed her of to no end. Even so she always makes sure to exert her dominance over anyone, so they know who is the boss. I only know of 3 people who aren’t scared of her”  
   
“Who would that be ?”  
   
“Well obviously Nathan, but also Rachel was never scared of her and that friend of hers wasn’t either. Pissed Victoria off to end those two”  
   
“Chloe”, Max whispered to herself.  
   
“Huh, what did you say ? “  
   
“Nothing, but if you don’t mind I’d kinda like to get to my room and do some unpacking”, Max said, now feeling slightly uncomfortable with how close Warren had moved to her.  
   
“Uhm, sure. Want me to walk you there Max ?", Warren said with a somewhat hopeful tone.

"Thanks, but no thanks, I think I can manage on my own. But thank you for offering", Max said, not really comfortable with Warren at all. He seemed somewhat clingy and kinda behaved like a child.

"Ok. I’ll talk to you later Max ?”, Warren asked, the question hanging in the air.  
   
“Sure, we’ll talk later”, Max replied.  
   
Max noticed how Warrens smile grew wider, and how he fist pumped when she walked away. She’d have to disappoint him later she thought, but for now she had other things to focus on.  
   
Max started to walk towards the dorm. She was somewhat zoned out walking in her own thoughts, but then she noticed something on the message board and then on the tree, on the wall and well pretty much everywhere. How she hadn't noticed it earlier was somewhat of a mystery. It was posters, posters with a picture of Rachel on it. It said in big bold letters...MISSING, Rachel Amber, call phonenumber 876334534 if you have any information. Max was shell shocked, she felt her breathing get out of control, her heartbeat went up and she slowly started to black out. This couldn’t be happening, how ? who ? what ? Max brain went into overdrive and without a sound she felt the world slip away as everything became dark and she fainted.


	11. An angel among us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what's up with this, I'm writing a note...O M G ;-)
> 
> Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I decided to post 2 chapters today :-) Hope you enjoy them

* * *

  **10\. An angel among us  
**

Max slowly opened her eyes. She felt a damp piece of cloth on her forehead and a soothing voice spoke to her.  
   
“Hey there, is everything ok ?”  
   
“Uh, I, ehh don’t know”,Max replied stupefied as she looked up at what she thought must be an angel.  
   
“I’m Kate. I think you fainted”, Kate said.  
   
“I’m pretty sure I did”, Max said stating the obvious.  
   
“Yes, I guess you did. Do you need help getting back to your room”, Kate said.  
   
“That would be sweet of you”, Max replied and broke into a small smile,”I think I could use all the help I can get at the moment”  
   
“Don’t worry I’ll help you”, Kate said as she grabbed Max’s hand.  
   
Kate gently pulled Max to her feet and supported her as they walked towards the dorm. Max on the other hand spent a little time studying Kate. She quickly noticed the gold cross around her neck. She also noticed how pretty Kate was, with her petite body being perfectly proportioned. How her golden hair, that was set into a bun, seemed to radiate like the sun. Eventually they got to Max’s room, and Kate helped her unlock the door and get in.  
   
“My room is the one right over there, feel free to come knock on my door anytime you want”, Kate said, “By the way, do you like tea ?”  
   
“Well I don’t dislike it”, Max said with a shy smile.  
   
“Then, I’ll make a pot and bring it here and we can have a cup of tea together”, Kate said as she went out the door towards her own room to apparently prepare the tea.  
   
Max was a little flabbergasted, had she just made a friend on her first day here ? well that was certainly something she hadn’t seen coming with the lack of success in that department over the last five years.  
   
A few minutes later Kate came back with a tray containing, two cups, a kettle and some cookies. She beamed as she put the tray on Max’s table.  
   
“Now that I’m here with the tea, let’s talk”  
   
“Ok, what do you want to talk about Kate ?”  
   
“Well anything really, like what do you like to do ?”  
   
“Oh I love taking photos”  
   
“Really”, Kate said as she looked at Max and slowly realization painted on her face,”Oh, you are that new girl Mr.Jefferson’s were talking about before the summer break”, Kate practically squealed.  
   
“Ehmm, I guess. I honestly don’t know. I mean why would he even think I’m so good”  
   
“Please, Mr.Jefferson’s showed some of your photos in class, they are great”  
   
“WHAT”, Max cried out slightly embarrassed, “But but they were only meant to be on my application, not to be shown to an entire class”  
   
“Well, I guess Mr.Jefferson might’ve overstepped a bit in doing it”, Kate proclaimed,”and it certainly won’t make your life any easier that he did”  
   
“What do you mean ?”  
   
“Victoria is what I mean, she hasn't even met you and already proclaimed she’ll make your life hell”  
   
“Why would she do that ? “  
   
“Because she wants to be Mr.Jefferson’s favourite, and she’s never been it, first Rachel beat her and now Mr.Jefferson has been going on about you”  
   
“Oh, well that sucks. As if my life wasn’t hard enough already”  
   
“What do you mean ?”  
   
“I don’t know if I should tell you, we just met”, Max said as she looked apologetically at Kate.  
   
“You can trust me Max”, Kate said and gently put her hand on top of Max’s, “I’m not exactly in the popular club either being a firm believer in god, so not like I can or would tell anyone, well except god. Even if I told, no one would believe me anyway”, Kate said and sank a little as she breathed out and looked sad.  
   
Max drew in air and let out a deep sigh, something inside her made her trust Kate, so Max began talking, ”OK, well I guess I might as well tell you the entire story then, not like I have anything to lose any more. I hope you have a lot of time to listen, this will take a while”, and then she proceeded to tell Kate about her and Chloe. About how her and Chloe had fallen out after their idyllic childhood. About knowing Rachel. About their plan. She told Kate about her anxieties, about her fears. About how all of these things affected her daily life. How she had to bring her camera every where to feel safe. She told Kate everything, even the things she hadn't told Rachel, because somehow, Max knew she could trust Kate with anything.

When she was done she had laughed with Kate, cried with Kate and Kate had comforted her.  
   
“Wow Max, I don’t know what to say. But if it counts for anything, if you need my help or advice I’ll do what I can”, Kate said.  
   
“Thanks Kate. I’ve known you for less than half a day and I already told you my entire sad life more or less. Even told you that I love another girl”, Max stated, as she stared down at the floor of her dorm room, ”And here you are still ready to help me, even when you know how fucked up I and my life are"

Kate beamed at this, “Thanks, but that's what friends do Max"

"Friends ?", Max said almost tasting the word.

"Yes", Kate said, "I think you need more of them don't you"

"I do, and I'd love for you to be my friend"

"I already am, otherwise you wouldn't have told me all of this would you ?", Kate replied as her smile never once faltered.

Max's smile made an appearance, it was a happy one. A friend, another friend, she thought.

"But having heard all this how can you still want to be my friend ?", Max asked.

Kate gently grabbed Max's hands, "Max, Don't sell yourself short. Anyone having you as their friend is lucky. I mean you haven't heard from Chloe in 5 years and still you have come back to find out if the two of you can work things out"

Max looked at Kate, she really was an angel, how she could be an outsider was beyond Max's understanding.

"At first I was scared telling you all this, but I guess my first impression was right, you really are an angel Kate”

Kate blushed slightly at the praise, "Nonsense Max, I just know that you’d probably do the same for me if the roles were reversed"

Max knew she would, despite all her anxieties and fears, if an angel like Kate needed help or a shoulder to cry on, Max would help.

”But it’s getting late, I guess we both need sleep. If you want we can talk more tomorrow Max”

“Yes, you are right. Need sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow then Kate”, Max said with a smile and a yawn which she tried to hide.

Kate smiled too, gave Max a hug, said goodnight and walked out of Max’s room with a wave and closed the door after her.

Max sat on the bed, stared emptily into the air not really knowing what to do at the moment. Not really sure at what point it happened but eventually Max drifted off to sleep, not even getting out of her clothes or locking her door.  
   
In her dreams Max dreamt of the adventure her and Chloe had had in the forest so many years ago. She dreamt of the doe, and as it looked straight into her eyes, the doe talked to her.  
   
“What you feel haven’t changed Max. For better or worse there is no turning back now. You can’t turn back time and relive the past, but you and Chloe will always be stronger together, just like it were suppose to be since you were born. I know you are scared, but don’t worry, I will always watch out for the two of you, just like I did back then”

Somehow, the doe's words reassured Max. Even in her sleep, her brain knew the doe meant safety. When dream Chloe wrapped her arms around Max and gripped her tightly, Max's brain spoke the words she had so desperately wanted to say when they were younger, but had always been to scared to say, "I love you Chloe".


	12. Blackhell mourning

* * *

  **11\. Blackhell mourning**

Max woke up as the sun gently tickled her awake. She felt rested as if she had slept a year. She stretched her limbs as she yawned and they crackled. Max swung her legs over the side of the bed and looked up onto the wall where her couch was standing.  
   
“Your life will be hell bitch”  
   
Was written on it with big white letters, odd, Max didn’t remember that being there yesterday.

She looked at her desk and noticed something was off. Her camera wasn’t at its usual position at the desk, instead it was on the floor.

Max flew up from her bed, and instantly went to the camera. Her heart fell as she noticed it was broken. She started crying at the unfairness of this. She had done no harm at all and someone had already been in her room breaking her camera for it. Wait, someone have been in my fucking room when I slept, they could’ve killed me or worse, Max shivered at the thought. It had to be this Victoria who had done it, or had something to do with it at least.  
   
Max sat down on her bed hugging herself as she quietly sobbed over the unfairness of it all. Eventually she managed to pull herself together and grab her toiletries and go to the bathroom.  
   
In there she ran into none other than Victoria, who Max of course still hadn’t met so she had no idea who it was.  
   
“Oh if it isn’t Mark’s new favourite subject”, Victoria spat out.  
   
“I’m sorry”, Max replied.  
   
“And the selfie whore is dumb too, figures”, Victoria said.  
   
“Ahh, I think I know who you are”, Max replied, “You must be Victoria”.  
   
“Yes, that would be moi”, Victoria replied sarcastically while pointing at herself, “I don’t understand why Mark doesn’t look my way, I’m talented, rich and my parents own the Chase space, instead he chooses a talentless little bitch like you”.  
   
“WHAT !”, Max blurted out, Ignoring Victoria’s insults, Chase space had practically been the only place in Seattle she had liked going to, ”Your parents own the Chase space, damm, that was practically the only place I enjoyed visiting in Seattle”  
   
Victoria tilted her head. What is this girls game, she thought. No one in their right mind actually enjoyed going to a gallery in their teens, well not unless they were a complete photograph nerd, which Victoria remembered Maxine had to be from her photos. Victoria, quite to the contrary of the beliefs of the many at Blackwell, didn’t want to hate Maxine, that was only a front. In fact she had quite quickly seen that Maxine was super talented from the photo’s Jefferson had shown in class, which in turn did make her jealous. But Victoria had started thinking, maybe she should try to be friends with this new girl instead of it being like it was with Rachel. With Rachel she never got to tell her how she felt, that she wanted her as a friend and maybe more.

Maybe, things can be different, maybe I don’t have to feel so alone and empty if it works and Max becomes my friend, Victoria thought.  
   
“Yes they do, and wow, there is like so many other things to see in Seattle”, Victoria said.  
   
“Pff, I know, but none of them are as nice as Chase space”, Max blurted out.  
   
This made Victoria smile a little, as much as she disliked her parents, she knew Chase space was a nice place and she’d spent countless hours hanging out there looking at the works of masters of photography. And then it struck her, she had seen Maxine before. Last year during her summer break she had spent some time helping out at the Chase space. She remembered a skinny girl with a Polaroid camera looking just like Maxine, wandering around eventually settling for the pictures in the specialties section, which also happened to be Victoria’s favourite area.  
   
“You know Maxine, I..”  
   
“It’s just Max, I hate it when people call me Maxine”  
   
“Oh whatever, Max”, Victoria hated being interrupted so her answer came out slightly more aggressive than she intended, “I don’t know what you heard about me, probably nothing good”, Victoria said knowing full and well that if Max had talked with anyone they would’ve told her that Victoria was poison and she would destroy her.  
   
Max nodded, “You could say that. From everyone I talked to so far, they’ve said you’d make my life hell. Actually it says so on my wall too, did you do that ?”.  
   
“Say what ?”, Victoria was flabbergasted. Did this little bitch just accuse her of something,”What did you just say ?”  
   
“Did you paint that message on my wall ?”  
   
“I don’t know what you are talking about ?”  
   
“Oh really”, Max replied thinking that Victoria was probably lying and was every bit the bitch Rachel had said she was, Max had forgotten about the insecure and scared part, “You know what, let me show you instead even though you probably already saw it when you painted it”  
   
“Hmmpf, what makes you even think I’ll waste my time with you”, who does this bitch think she is, accusing me of this, though I have said pretty openly that I would make her life hell. Shit, maybe I brought this on myself, Victoria thought.  
   
“Because if you don’t you’ll be every bit the bitch everyone says you are”  
   
Victoria couldn’t argue with Max’s logic, but she was about to turn around and leave regardless. Something made her stay though, she wasn’t sure exactly why she did, but she did.  
   
“Ok, whatever, I’ll come see your probably lame hipster room”, Victoria said as she let loose a massive sigh.  
   
“I just need to brush my teeth and get some water in my face”, Max said, “I’m in room 123”  
   
“Oh, my room is actually right across yours then”, Victoria said, “But I’ll just wait for you to finish this and we can walk there together just so you won’t get lost”.  
   
“Haha, very funny”  
   
Max finished her morning toilette, she had wanted to take a shower, but didn’t want Victoria waiting to long. Victoria would probably rip her a new one if she did. After a few minutes they were walking to her room together.  
   
Just as they came to Max’s room Kate’s door opened, “morning Max”, Kate chirped and then she noticed Victoria, “Oh I see”, Kate said and turned around trying to close her door and get back to her room.  
   
“Kate, please”, Max said , “Please come, something happened in my room last night, I need you to see it too”  
   
Victoria was about to protest, not wanting Kate to be there to see what had happened and she too would blame her for it, but Max grabbed her arm and gave her a look that said, please.  
   
Kate turned around in the door, “Max ?”  
   
“Please Kate, there is something I really really need you to see”, Max said, “you won’t believe what happened”.  
   
“Ok, I’ll come”, Kate said, and she walked over to Max even though she was still in her nightgown, and slightly concerned of Victoria being there too. Was this some sort of weird plan to get her down. Or humiliate both her and Max.  
   
Victoria on the other hand eyed Kate up and down, Kate is actually quite beautiful, she thought to herself, why did I never notice this before. She also blushed a little as Kate noticed her looking and she quickly averted her eyes from her.  
   
Max opened the door to her room and they walked in.  
   
When Victoria and Kate saw the writing on Max’s wall they both shouted out simultaneously.  
   
“Oh My God”, Kate said loudly.  
   
“Holy shit”, Victoria blurted out  
   
“Victoria”, Kate said  
   
“Oh fuck, sorry Kate”, Victoria said  
   
“Seriously Victoria”  
   
“What do you want me to do Kate, I can’t fucking change my language”  
   
“You could try to be just a little more polite couldn’t you”  
   
“The entire fucking world is aiming to get me today, I fucking swear I’ll..”, Victoria muttered to herself  
   
“What was that Victoria ?”, Kate said  
   
“Nothing dear”, Victoria replied with the biggest fake smile she could muster.  
   
Max finally found her voice and said, “Yeh, this is kinda shit huh, well not as shit as whomever did it also tossed my camera to the ground and broke it. So I’m now a photography student without my only camera”  
   
“What really”, Victoria said, “you only have one camera, and even an old Polaroid at that”.  
   
“Yes, one camera. How do you think I became so good with it”, Max said not even trying to hide the irony in it.  
   
“Well regardless, that writing on the wall is pretty ominous”, Kate said with a shiver, “Want us to help removing it ?”  
   
“Yes please”, Max said, “I’m actually kinda freaking out, feeling kinda scared too to be honest. I mean I’ve been here one day, and already I blacked out yesterday, my room got graffitied and someone’s broken my camera”.  
   
“Ok then, let’s get a bucket and some wipes then”, Kate said, “you gonna help Victoria ?”  
   
“Yes, I’ll help. But damn this is some hardcore shit Max. Regardless of what you heard of me, I wouldn’t do shit like this, even Kate knows I wouldn’t go this far”, Victoria said hoping to god that Kate would agree with her.  
   
“She is right Max. Victoria may be a bit of a ehmm not nice person, but she wouldn’t do this”, Kate said as she eyed Victoria who started giggling, “what are you giggling at ?“  
   
“You, and your ‘nice’ swearing”, Victoria said with a smile as she stifled her giggles, “Couldn’t you just for once swear like a real person”  
   
Kate couldn’t help but smile a little at it, and she noticed Max was also sporting a small smile.  
   
“Let’s go get that hot water and a bucket so we can get this mess cleaned”, Kate shot out between giggles.  
   
The two other girls complied, and they walked together down the hall of the dorm to get the things to clean Max’s wall. Somehow, by pure chance what could have been a bad thing had turned into something good. The doe watched as they walked over the yard to the utility room, had you looked closer you would’ve noticed it smiled. I have set the wheels in motion now, it thought, only time can tell if things will turn out well.  
   
As the girls cleaned the wall in Max’s room they chatted idly about everything and nothing.  
Victoria had never thought of talking with Kate before. Well only if she wanted to belittle her for her faith or her abstinence, which she secretly admired her for. And Max, she had initially intended to dislike her. But after what she had seen on Max’s wall and how they had talked as they cleaned it, she somehow couldn’t. Someone had wanted Max and her to be enemies, and had it not been for the chance meeting in the bathroom this morning, they might very well have succeeded.  
   
“You know Max I actually intended to dislike you, but after meeting you, I kinda can’t seem to want it any more”, Victoria said this not even fully understanding why she was doing this, “I think, maybe we could try to be friends, or at least not enemies”  
   
“I think I’d like that”, Max said with a small smile gracing her lips, “It’s funny, Rachel said you’d hate me”  
   
“Rachel, how do you know Rachel ?”  
   
“It’s a long story, I already told it to Kate, but, no offence Victoria, I don’t feel like I can trust you enough with it yet”  
   
“You met Kate yesterday and you told her, and you won’t tell me? Wow now I’m offended“  
   
“Come on Victoria, if you were me would you tell you ?”  
   
“I”, Victoria desperately thought of a reason to make Max want to tell her, but she came up empty, “I..I probably wouldn’t”, Victoria sighed deeply, ”And I understand why you’d trust Kate with it, she’s literally a saint”  
   
Kate beamed at this, Victoria had called her a saint, well not that she was one. We are all equal in god’s eyes Kate thought, ”Was that a compliment Victoria ?”  
   
“I guess so”, Victoria said and noticed Max smirk, “What ?”  
   
“Oh nothing”  
   
“Hey, don’t nothing me, it’s not everyday I give a compliment to anyone”  
   
Max smiled at this, and Kate knew that it was true. Kate also felt nice knowing that Victoria had complimented her, which, although really unusual considering Victoria's behaviour towards Kate last year, wasn’t a bad thing.  
   
As they finished the clean up and made sure the wall was spotless, Max spoke, “Look Victoria, I would like to be your friend, but I don’t think it’ll work if you continue being as bad as everyone I talked to seem to think you are”  
   
“I know”, Victoria dreaded this, being friends with Max and probably Kate too, would destroy her reputation as the bitch queen of Blackwell. Then she remembered the words of Chloe some months back and how much they had hurt her at the time, mainly because of the truth they carried in them. “Look Max, I’ll try to change, but I’m not sure how easy it’ll come to me, and I might need a few thousand chances”, Victoria said with no small amount of nervousness in her voice, “And I’ll probably need both of you to help me being nice”  
   
“Sure Victoria”, Max and Kate said in unison, "We can do that", and they both went in to hug Victoria.

When their arms surrounded Victoria, she was sure this would be the start of something good. Victoria felt accepted for who she was. Even if it would be scary to leave her fake personae behind and embrace who she really was, ultimately Max and Kate would make it worth it. Victoria smiled like she hadn't done since she was a little kid, a true warm smile that displayed how she felt in this moment, happy.


	13. Nothing to fear

* * *

  **12\. Nothing to fear**

Max finally felt some level of comfort now that she had made two friends at the dorm. Victoria and Kate had even helped her remove the scary message from her dorm wall and said that Max could talk to them anytime she felt like it.They had even offered to do a sleepover everyday so Max wouldn’t feel scared. Max smiled at the thought of it.

One week had passed relatively Quickly as she bonded with Kate and Victoria. Warren had also been bombarding her with texts, asking her to go ape with him. She liked Warren, but just as a friend. She really should tell him that she wasn’t interested in more than that. Max just wasn’t sure how to do it, since she didn't really have much experience in that area of life. If things went completely out of control she could always call dad, he had said he would come and beat the shit out of any 'prince charming' coming her way. Max snickered at the mental image of her dad towering over Warren telling him to leave his baby girl alone.  
   
Keeping Victoria on the straight and narrow path was a bigger task than Max and Kate had anticipated though. In the last week the three of them had argued and split up more than Max remembered even her and Chloe did back in the day when they were kids. Max wasn’t even sure that the thousand chances Victoria had asked for would be enough. But thank god Kate had the patience of a saint, so they always managed to somehow reel Victoria in and get the budding friendship back on track.

Max had also noticed Victoria eyeing Kate every now and then. Like she had discovered something she hadn’t noticed before. Bah, I’m probably seeing things that aren’t there, Max thought to herself.

In fact things were so hectic with her new found friends and school, that Max had almost forgotten about Rachel and Chloe. But she was reminded of it everyday when she saw posters about Rachel missing and the number on it. Maybe she should call it and hear if there was anything she could do. After all, she felt like Rachel was her friend too even if she never met her.Finding Rachel would make everything so much simpler Max thought, so she went out to look at the posters, opened her smartphone, typed the number and was about to press call when she felt a shiver down her spine and turned around only to be face to face with a slender blonde boy.

“Hello Maxine”  
   
“It’s Max, never Maxine”  
   
“Ok, whatever Max. I’m Nathan, I’m a friend of Victoria’s”, Nathan said.  
   
“Ok, Hi Nathan, what do you want ?”, Max said, sounding a bit more annoyed than she intended.  
   
“I...I.”, Nathan was either confused or unsure what to say or do, “I..ehh, Victoria told me what happened to your room a few days back”, Nathan said, “That’s some fucked up shit, the whole deal with your broken camera kinda sucks too”, he moved his hand behind his head, scratched his neck and smiled apologetically

“Yeah it does”, Max replied with sadness in her voice, “I had that Polaroid since I were a kid, it was sorta an extension of me. And now I have no camera and I can’t afford to get another”  
   
“Oh, well both me and Victoria have a lot of camera’s, I don’t think it’ll be a problem to borrow one”  
   
“I prefer analogue over digital, it just feels more right to me”  
   
“Ahh..well that might be a problem since we both only shoot with digital”  
   
“Oh well, I could try, but it won’t be the same”, Max said with a sigh.  
   
“I get it, trust me I do. Look if you need help or some shit just ask me or Victoria, ok ?”, Nathan said as he made an overstated shrug with his shoulders. He didn’t really know this girl at all, but if Victoria said she was ok, then Nathan wouldn’t harass her like he normally would do with a new girl, or he’d at least try not to.  
   
“Ok Nathan, and thanks. The rumours of you and Victoria being grade A ass holes seems to be over rated”  
   
“HAH”, Nathan said and bellowed out a loud laugh, “They are somewhat true, but Victoria asked if we couldn’t try to change it for the better. I don’t really know if I’m capable of it, since I am kinda fucked up in every which way, but this is me trying”, he said as he made a gesture with his arms as if he didn't know where to put them.  
   
“I appreciate it”, Max replied with a smile, ”You are doing ok at being nice so far. It may not be as hard as you think to be nice to people. But I'm kinda in the middle of something, so I’ll talk to you later Nathan ?”  
   
“I’m sure you will, see you around Max”, and with that Nathan turned on his heel and walked away towards wherever the hell he wanted to go.  
   
Well that was sure weird, Max thought to herself. First Victoria is not what she’s been described as being, and now the other part of that grouping seems to be a decent person too, or at least trying to be it. Where was I, oh yes calling that number.

She looked at her phone the numbers were still there, Max took a deep breath, well here goes nothing and she pressed the dial icon and put the phone to her ear. The phone rang a few times and then it was picked up.  
   
“Hello”, a female voice said.  
   
“Uhmm, h-hello. Is this, uhm, who  i-is looking for Rachel Amber”, Max nervously stuttered out.  
   
“RACHEL, you know something about Rachel ???”the voice at the other end shouted with a mix of hope and anger.  
   
“No, no I-i don’t. I don’t know where she is or what’s happened, but I kinda know Rachel and I want to help find her if I can”, Max said finding the other person’s voice somewhat familiar.  
   
“I guess I can use all the help I can get, seeing that everyone else just ups and leaves me”, the voice at the other end stated with such sadness in her voice it was heartbreaking.  
   
Hearing those words made something tick inside Max’s head. They were the exact words someone had used so many years ago. Max’s brain slowly caught up and she put two and two together and almost whispered into the phone, “C-Chloe, is that you ? Is it really you ?”  
   
“Yes, my name is Chloe. How do you know my name, who are you ?”, Chloe said, her anger moving faster than her brain, but something was stirring inside her head, she knew this voice, but from where.  
   
There were several seconds of silence and neither of them said anything, and then Chloe realized who was at the other end of the phone, “Max”, Chloe said to herself not meaning to say it out loud.  
   
Chloe’s mind raced at a million miles an hour, she wasn’t sure what to say or do. So she did what she always did and spoke before her brain caught up to her mouth, “Max, I..I can’t talk to you, I can’t”, Chloe said remembering how she treated Max so many years ago, she wanted to close the phone, run away and hide, never to be found again.  
   
“Chloe, please, I’ve wanted to hear your voice for 5 years, don’t you dare push me away again”  
   
Chloe was ever so slightly panicking and everything she had locked down for so long came spewing forward, “I, I can’t Max..You didn’t call me or write me for so long and now you just want to talk again. I can’t, it’s all your fault..I”, Chloe lashed out on the phone trying to scare Max away, but wanting nothing more than for Max to be next to her, she had missed her so fucking much that her heart was breaking as she uttered the words into the phone.  
   
Max got angry, not something that happened often, but enough was enough, 5 years worth of anger flared up, “OH NO YOU DON’T Chloe”, Max shouted into the phone, “You don’t get to tell bullshit like that to me, I sent you a text a few months back and I got no reply from you, none ! That time when we were still kids, I had to leave, not by my choice by the way. You shouted at me, you pushed me even further away, you hurt me and now you want to tell me it was all my fault ! Hell no if I will accept that shit from you any more”, Max shouted with anger in her voice not wanting to take crap from Chloe, “I’ll hang up Chloe, if you want to talk or maybe apologize for all the shit you caused me, then you have my number and you can call me !”, and with that Max hung up.  
   
What the fuck did I just do, Max thought. I want nothing more than to be with Chloe and now I just shouted at her and made her feel like shit, she’ll hate me now and never talk to me again. Oh fuck fuck fuck, I so could use Rachel’s help right now. Max’s lip began quivering and she started tearing up. Max began walking towards the dorm. After a moment the walk turned into her storming towards her dorm room, where she threw herself on the bed and began crying in earnest. Victoria had noticed how Max had come storming in and she went to knock on Max’s door,”Max, are you ok ?”, Victoria said as Kate’s door opened and Kate came walking towards Max’s room too.  
   
“No I’m not ok, go away and leave me alone”  
   
“Max, we are your friends, don’t push us away when you clearly need us. We can't help you if you won't let us”, Kate said.  
   
Hearing Kate’s voice always seemed to soothe Max somewhat and she knew Kate was right, “Come on in then. You know how to open my door don’t you”, Max said feigning anger, when in fact it was despair she felt.  
   
Victoria and Kate quickly entered Max’s room and tried to comfort Max. But since neither knew why Max was crying and Max didn’t want to indulge them, all they could really do was hug Max and tell her that everything would be ok. This in turn made Max cry more and sob,” I ruined everything”. Kate and Victoria shared a confused look and then continued to comfort Max.

* * *

In Chloe’s room, Chloe sat and stared in disbelief at her phone. Of all the people that could’ve called her, it had to be Max. Max who she had wished to be here everyday for almost 5 years. And now that she called me, I tried to push her away again, trying to be all righteous and shit. Saying it was all her fault, what a colossal fuckup that was. Though Max saw right through me in an instant and told me to shove it. Fuck, I have to make this right, all these years I’ve known it was all my fault and I did nothing about it. And now that I might have a second chance I once again try to blame Max for it all.  
Wait didn’t she say she had sent me a message a few months back and I hadn’t replied. Oh of course, Max probably never got the number to my new phone so she must‘ve sent a message to my old phone. The one we decorated together, and I kept just because, well you never know.  
   
Chloe flew up from her bed and was at her dingy cabinet in a few long strides. Proceeding to rip open the drawers, flinging things out of it, desperate to find her old phone. Only took a few seconds and a bit of a mess on the floor before she had it in hand.  
   
Of fucking course it’s out of power, Chloe fumed as she looked for the old phones charger. Finally, she thought when she found it under her bed. She connected the phone and waited impatiently for it to get enough charge to be turned on.  
   
Oh come on, don’t be so fucking slow. Finally the phone was on and Chloe saw what she knew would be there, because Max never lied to her, there was one new message from Max. Chloe knew it meant that even more than before, it was all her fault and that Max had indeed tried to contact her.  
   
Chloe had to hold the phone with both hands, because she was shaking so badly. She opened the message and tears started forming in her eyes as she read it.  
   
_Hi Chloe, it’s Max. Yes, that Max. I..I miss you. I know I should’ve said it long ago, but the way we parted left me scared, rejected and alone. As time went on, it was just easier to not do anything. I’m sorry Chloe, I’m sorry for not being there, I’m sorry for everything, even if none of it was my fault. But, I got accepted into Blackwell, can you believe it ? I’m going to be in Arcadia Bay by mid august. I hope maybe you’ll want to see me again..Let the past be the past and maybe we can be friends again...I..Just..Please don’t reject me Chloe, I don’t think I can handle it if you do it again. We’ll talk soon, ok ?_  
   
When she was done Chloe was quietly sobbing on her bed. Max had felt the same as she had all these years. She had been scared to contact her too. Fuck, Max had tried to contact me, and I never saw the message, I, fuck..fuck fuck fuck. Chloe slammed her hand into the mattress crying.  
   
No wonder Max was so pissed at me, she believes I didn’t answer her on purpose. I have to make this right.  
   
Wait Max is here, Max is here for Blackwell, and fuck, how does Max know Rachel.  
   
Maybe Max will want to meet again, maybe we can go to Two whales, mom will sure want to see Max.  
   
Fuck my head is exploding with all these thoughts, I need to medicate. Chloe grabbed a joint from the stash under the bed, and after a few puffs she got the familiar feeling of her brain slowing down enough for her to control the whirling mist of thoughts in there. She thought about all the things her and Max had done in the past. How much she probably hurt Max with what she did back then. Why Max had come back to Arcadia bay. Why had Rachel disappeared.  
   
Chloe stuck her long slender arm out and grabbed her tin can with memories from under the bed and fished out the picture of Rachel and her, and then the one of her and Max from her wallet.  
   
Oh why’d you have to disappear Rachel, I so want you to met Max, Chloe thought as she looked at the picture. Then she looked at the picture of Max and her as pirates and remembered those childhood days, their adventures and their old camping spot in the forest. Chloe remembered all of it. Before she fell asleep Chloe was left with so many questions, and only one person knew the answers she so desperately needed now. She knew what she had to do, didn’t make it any easier, but she knew she had to.


	14. Erase and rewind

* * *

  **13\. Erase and rewind  
**

Max awoke to someone knocking at her door, “MAX ! MAX wake up!”, a voice shouted and there was knocking on her door.  
   
Max stumbled to her feet almost falling flat on her face. As she desperately tried to stay on her feet she rammed hard into the door, “OUCH”, she groaned.  
   
“Max, you ok in there”  
   
Max regained her bearings and opened the door and there was Victoria.  
   
“What do you want Tori ?”, Max said with a voice that only stated two things, that it wasn’t awake yet and that she was more than unhappy to be so rudely awoken.  
   
“DUH, we have a party tonight. You HAVE to come !”  
   
“What, no ! I’m fucking tired, I feel like shit and I just want to be left alone”  
   
“Oh no you don’t missy, you are coming with me”, Victoria said insistently.  
   
“But I want to sleep”, Max wailed out like a baby.  
   
“Sleep, it’s not even 20:00 and you want to sleep. You already slept all afternoon, no way will I let you sleep any more. You. Need. To. Party”, Victoria said pronouncing every word clearly.

“Owwww, but my bed is sooooo comfy..pleaseeee”, Max said with her most pleading voice while she tried to do puppy dog eyes with her half awaken face. The result was not as effective as she expected.  
   
“Ha..haha...hahaaaaaaa”, Victoria started laughing so loud that an alarmed Kate opened up her dorm room door a moment later and looked out.  
   
“Victoria, what are you laughing about”, Kate said looking like a huge question mark.  
   
“It’s...hahaaa..Max...She...hahaa..she...hahaaaaa”, Victoria tried her best to tell why she was laughing so hard, but every time she tried she doubled over laughing hysterically.  
   
“Ha ha, so not funny”, Max said sarcasticly, but Victoria's laughter was contagious and soon Max found herself laughing too, there was just no stopping it.  
   
Kate didn’t understand at all what was so funny, but she couldn’t help but to start laughing too. So there they were, at the hallway in the dorm crying with laughter.

After several minutes they had finally calmed down.  
   
“So what was that all about ?”, Kate asked.

“Well it was Max, she tried to do puppy dog eyes on me right after waking up, so I would leave her alone. Her face were clearly not cooperating with her. She looked like some mix of weird Al Jankowitz and Jim Carrey on drugs. Trust me had you seen it you would laugh too”, Victoria said with a chuckle trying hard not to laugh again.

“Well, anyway, I’m definitely awake now”, Max said, “So I might as well hear about this party we apparently have tonight”.  
   
“Oh yes”, Kate said, “I almost forgot about it too”  
   
“Yes, I figured as much”, Victoria said, “Which is why I intended to grab both of you and play dress up, so we can go together”.  
   
“What !”, Kate looked at Victoria in shock, “But, but what about Taylor and Courtney ?”  
   
“Oh those two bitches can handle themselves. I told them I had other plans tonight than to hang out with them. When I told I wanted to spend some time with the two of you, Courtney asked why I’d want to spend time with two losers. After that I just told her to fuck off”  
   
In fact, over the short time she had known Max and Kate as friends, Victoria had become quite fond of both of them. With them she could relax and not keep up her front. With them she could let her inner geek out and just be the person she was. Now she wanted to do something with them she liked to do. And besides, would be fun for them too to get out of their shells and do something different, she thought.  
   
“Wow Victoria, you didn’t have to do that”, Max said.  
   
“I know, but I felt for a long time that those two were only there because of my money and popularity, well at least Courtney is I guess, and I wanted to be with some people that were there because of me. So since I had to choose, I choose you”  
   
“Thanks Victoria”, Kate said as she flashed that beaming smile of hers, “You really didn’t have to do that you know, me and Max would’ve been fine”  
   
“Yes, we really would Tori”, Max chirped in, “and I would’ve still been asleep”, Max just couldn’t help herself, she had to get that last bit in.  
   
“As if. Anyway, I’m not regretting my decision. It feels good that I can be myself around you and not have to fake interest”, Victoria said this as a genuine smile spread on her face, especially when she looked over at Kate and saw her smiling in earnest too.  
   
Max and Kate looked at each other and then they reached in and gave Victoria a group hug.  
   
“You two really are something, you know that”, Victoria said as her smile grew even wider, “but I kinda like it like that, wouldn’t change a thing”.  
   
“Am I interrupting something” a voice said.  
   
Max knew that voice, she let go of Victoria and Kate. She turned around and there she was.  
   
Chloe.  
   
Max’s mouth opened in amazement as she looked at Chloe. She looked nothing like she had done 5 years ago. Punk rock clothes, short blue hair, a tattoo on most of her right arm, and those deep blue eyes which seemed to suck Max’s eyes in, just like they had always done. Chloe’s change in look was definitely not a bad thing, Max was enchanted.  
   
“Hi Max”, was all Chloe said after that, trying to be all cool and collected, but failing miserably at it now that she was standing close to Max.  
   
“You know her”, Victoria said as she looked at Max and then at Chloe. Kate drew in a deep breath and nodded to herself, as if she understood something.  
   
Max on the other hand was unable to answer Victoria, she was kinda shocked and at the same time trying to process that Chloe was right before her. The girl, no woman, she had missed so much for the last 5 years, that she had made an imaginary version of her to keep her company when she was lonely, which had been quite often.  
   
“I think you should leave Chloe”, Victoria said and started moving towards Chloe to get her out of the way, mistaking Max’s current behaviour as fear.  
   
“No Victoria”, Kate said as she grabbed Victoria’s arm holding her back “These two probably have a lot of things to catch up on, why don’t we go to my room and I’ll explain it all to you”  
   
“huh, what ?”, Victoria said.  
   
“Just trust me, ok ?”, Kate said, as she grabbed Victoria.  
   
“But, No..I”, Victoria mumbled out, but there was no escaping Kate’s steel grip and she dragged Victoria towards her room.  
   
This left Max and Chloe standing a few meters apart, the whole situation turning ever so slowly awkward as none of them said a word.  
   
Chloe somewhat regretted coming here when they were alone in the hallway. She wanted to turn around and run, but at the same time she knew if she did, Max would probably never forgive her. And how the hell had Max become friends with that bitch Victoria. Though Max was looking pretty nice, she still hadn’t grown much, and there wasn’t much curve to her yet, but her eyes were still so amazing, and those freckles. Chloe bit her lip, she had prepared this huge talk about all the things she wanted to say to Max. How she would apologise to Max. About how she, Chloe that is, was to blame for it all, how she had missed Max. But in the thick of it, Chloe just stood there, speechless, unable to say a damn thing. She cursed herself internally and wanted nothing more than to open her mouth to say something, but very uncharacteristically for her, nothing came out.  
   
Max was frozen to the spot, she just stood there. Her brain had somewhat ceased to function. Seeing Chloe was such a shock to her system that she couldn’t fully comprehend it. So apart from her basic functions, she shutdown.  
   
So they just stood there for what seemed like an eternity. A few meters apart. Closer than they had been for a long time. Someone would have to take the first step for anything to happen.  
   
Eventually Chloe couldn’t take it any more, why didn’t Max say something, anything. Chloe was about to turn around and run away, she was so fucking scared that Max hated her, that she would screw it all up again. She knew she would, as soon as she’d open her mouth she’d screw it up. Chloe fucking motormouth would screw it up. So Chloe tried to do what she did best, what she had done in the last five years, she tried to run away.  
   
But Max, despite being frozen to the spot, saw what was going on. As soon as she noticed Chloe shuffling her feet backwards, Max began moving, she almost jumped forward and took 3 long steps straight into Chloe and wrapped her arms around her so she couldn't run anywhere.  
   
“I missed you so fucking much”, Max said and she couldn’t hold her tears back any more and began crying into Chloe’s shirt, “Every day for five fucking years. Every single day I missed you”.  
   
And with that Chloe’s dam broke, “I..I’m sorry Max”, Chloe sniffled, “I’m so sorry about everything, I know it’s all my fault. I just, I wish it had been different and I don’t know what to do, I’m scared..I, I”. Chloe took a deep breath, “I just wish you had never left, I missed you, I wanted to, but you were gone and I..I...I couldn’t”, Chloe tried hard to, but her voice failed her and she couldn’t say any more as she began crying too and her voice became an unintelligible mess as she did.  
   
Max too wanted to say something, but found that nothing came out when she tried, so she settled for just holding Chloe and crying.  
   
The two girls just stood there in the hallway holding each other as they cried their tears. Tears of happiness, tears of relief. All the pent up agony and pain they had collected over the years seemed to be in those tears and as they rained down, some of it was washed away with them.  
   
After quite a while, Max finally let go of Chloe, looked at her and gently dragged her towards her dorm room.  
   
“No Max, not tonight”, Chloe said, as she wiped some tears away with the sleeve of her jacket,”You are long long overdue for a visit at casa de la Price. Mom is home and I’m certain you’ve missed her cooking, not to mention she’ll be thrilled to see you are back”, Chloe said still sniffling, hoping with all her heart that Max would accept.  
   
“But, I..”, Max hesitantly said, unsure of what to do.  
   
“I will not accept a no to this one first mate”, Chloe said with a look on her face that melted Max's heart.  
   
Max broke into a smile, which did look slightly weird on a face with tears still running down over it and red eyes from all the crying, “Ok captain, I just have to get some proper clothes on and tell Victoria and Kate, so they don’t worry about me, ok ?”  
   
“Sure Max”, Chloe said and broke into a smile feeling hopeful and having more than a few butterflies somersaulting inside her.  
   
Max rushed into her room and threw some nicer clothes on and then she walked over to Kate’s room and knocked at the door.  
   
The door opened and Kate poked her head out looking expectantly at Max, “So ?”  
   
“I’ll go with Chloe to see her mom and I dunno, we’ll see I guess”  
   
“What are you waiting for then, you should go with her Max. Me and Victoria will be fine, right Victoria ?”, Kate said with a smile on her lips.  
   
“Yeah we’ll be fine Max, just go with Chloe”, Victoria said and wiggled her eyebrows knowingly at Max.  
   
Kate leaned close to Max and whispered into her ear, “Good luck, even though I don’t think you’ll need it”  
   
Max smiled at this, “I’ll talk to you two tomorrow then, enjoy the party”, Max walked over to Chloe, took her hand and took a quick peek into her blue eyes, ”Take me home Chloe”.  
   
Chloe’s smile grew to a level it hadn’t been at in years, from the words Max said. She felt a warmth grow inside her, something she hadn’t felt since before her dad had died and Max had been there all those years ago.  
   
The two walked hand in hand over the lawn in front of the dorm, every now and then glancing into the blue eyes of the other one, then shyly looking away with a coy smile. They walked past the wall surrounding the area towards the parking lot to Chloe’s banged up truck. When they reached it they got in, Chloe started the engine and they took off with a growl from the old V8 engine. For a brief moment both of them had forgotten about everything else, their worries, their missing friend. For now it was just them and nothing else.

* * *

Max and Chloe hadn’t noticed the person observing them from the shadows, grinding his teeth and scribbling some angry notes in his notebook. His plan to make Max become enemies with Victoria hadn't worked as he had hoped, but he had a plan B. Max would know him soon enough, oh yes she would. He would have her in a dark corner and take her, but first, he had a party to attend, he had plans for a certain someone tonight. It would be glorious.


	15. Family ties

* * *

  **14\. Family ties**

“Mom, I’m home”, Chloe shouted as they entered the Price family home.  
   
No one answered and Chloe walked into the kitchen seeing the yellow note on the fridge.  
   
_Chloe, one of the girls called in sick, had to go to work. Food in the fridge, Joyce._  
   
“Well damn, here I come with a vip and mom isn’t even home”  
   
“Don’t worry Chloe. As long as there is food I will survive”  
   
“You know what Max, why don’t we jump in the truck and surprise mom at the Two whales, it’s only a 15 min drive. I’m sure you’ve been dying to go there again and get some ‘waggles’”, Chloe said with a snicker.  
   
“I’ll never live that down will I ?”, Max said and smiled dreamily. It wasn’t a large secret back in the day that Max absolutely loved the waffles at Two whales, neither that until she was 7 years old she couldn’t say waffles correctly.  
   
“Anyway, sounds like a plan Chloe, so let’s go”  
   
“Arghhh, let’s board the ship and go then first mate Max”  
   
“Hahaha, you are so funny Chloe. Just you wait, one day I will be captain of the ship”  
   
The two reunited friends were quickly finding themselves slipping back into the banter they had been so used to as kids. It was like something that had been missing inside them, was now back, and they continued their small talk as they entered the car.  
   
As they drove towards Two whales, Max out of the blue asked Chloe a question, “Chloe. Why did you never call me?”  
   
Chloe’s mood visibly sunk at Max’s question, “You had to destroy the mood, huh Max”, truth is Chloe had dreaded if and when Max would touch these things, because it was sort of a sore subject for both of them.  
   
“Come on Chloe, we have to talk about it eventually, so we might as well start now”, Max said with a fierceness in her voice, that, had she not told Chloe off on the phone the first time they talked for 5 years, she wouldn’t have believed Max had in her. So Chloe caved and started talking.  
   
“I don’t know Max. I guess I’m just a coward at heart, scared of you hating me and wanting nothing to do with me. Maybe it’s just like you wrote in the text you sent me, I wouldn’t be able to take it if you were to reject me”  
   
“Pfft. Chloe, I’m sure that deep inside you know exactly how I would have reacted had you called and said you were sorry. You would’ve been forgiven in an instant”, Max said with a pout, “Even if what you said and did was pretty hurtful and mean, I would still have forgiven you”.  
   
“I guess”, Chloe Shrugged and tried to focus on the road, “How come you never contacted me Max ?”  
   
“I did Chloe, well took me 5 years but I still did it. Though on the topic of being honest, things are more complicated than that”  
   
“How so”  
   
“Well, I kinda knew Rachel, even before I called you”  
   
“What !”, Chloe said with visible surprise in her voice and almost crashed the car, but managed to regain control of it. She slowed down and drove to the side of the road.  
   
“What do you mean you knew Rachel ?”, Chloe said with a tone showing that her anger was about to flare up.  
   
“Before I came here Chloe, Rachel called my parents in Seattle and wanted to speak with me”  
   
“Why ? I mean, how did she even get your number”  
   
“She didn’t, I mean not at first. She called the landline. She must’ve looked it up on the internet or maybe took it from your mom’s phone book or something”  
   
“Ok, this is all so confusing, why ?”  
   
“Rachel was afraid that you would end up doing something stupid. She said she couldn’t save you, she had tried and failed. She said she needed me to save you”  
   
“So you are here because of Rachel and not me, figures. Should’ve known you wouldn’t come for me”, Chloe said with a distinct anger and sadness in her voice.  
   
“No, I’m here because I want to be here, where you are”, Max said with a slight quiver in her voice, “Even before Rachel called me I had applied to Blackwell because I wanted to go back here and at least try to talk with you, I hoped maybe we could be friends again”  
   
“But why, I’m nothing but dead weight, I’ll probably just drag you down with me”  
   
“Chloe you are anything but dead weight. You know I had practically the choice of any art school in the entire country, and I came here, to maybe be with you. Just for a chance to have you as my friend again”.

“I wish Rachel was here, things would be easier if she was”, Chloe muttered out on the verge of crying. This was all getting to much too quickly.  
   
“Me too. If Rachel was here things would’ve been different, but even without her, we managed to get back together. Must be destiny Chloe”, Max said and looked straight into Chloe’s eyes.  
   
“Destiny”, Chloe looked back into Max’s eyes as she repeated what she said, “If you and me being together again is destiny, then I hope destiny wants us to find Rachel too”  
   
“So do I Chloe, so do I”, Max said with a deep sigh.  
   
“OK, enough moody shit, let’s get back to our plan about Two whales and surprising mom”, Chloe turned the key and the engine roared to life and they were once again on the road. This time at a more safe speed and with no dangerous swerving around.  
   
After about 10 minutes of non dangerous driving they arrived at the Two whales, Chloe parked the car around the back, and shut the engine.  
   
Max opened the door and jumped out of the car. The slight breeze from the nearby ocean invigorated her and she smiled as she felt the salty tinge in her nostrils.  
   
Chloe sauntered over the hood of her truck and landed right in front of Max, “Why are you smiling like a dummy Maaaxxxxiinnneeee”  
   
“It’s Max, never Maxine. You know that you dumb ass”, Max retorted, but she couldn’t help but smile at Chloe’s exaggerated way of saying it, “I was just enjoying the fresh air from the sea, nothing like that in Seattle”  
   
“I bet there were lots of other things in Seattle, like a boyfriend”, Chloe waggled her eyebrows as she said it, hoping that Max would say no.  
   
“No Chloe, no boyfriends. Seattle was nice, but not really my playground. I didn’t really get any friends and I mostly wandered around in my own world with my camera”  
   
Chloe smiled involuntarily, so Max never got a boyfriend, maybe there was some sort of chance here.  
   
“Well then, miss virgin supreme, let’s get in and get some food, I’m starving”  
   
“Never said I was a virgin Chloe, and shouldn’t we surprise your mom ?”, Max said with some sass in her voice. Max was of course a virgin still, but it felt good to tease Chloe a little.  
   
“Say what”, Chloe’s smiled disappeared, and she froze, Max wasn’t a virgin, but no boys, she’d have to get out of her what that was, but now, food,”Mom will be surprised just by you being there, with me”, Chloe said and gave Max a poke, “in fact I think she’ll be overjoyed to have her ‘good’ daughter back”  
   
“Chloeee”, Max whined, but Max had indeed been almost like a second daughter when they were kids and she knew Joyce loved her almost as much as she loved Chloe.  
   
Max and Chloe entered the diner, where they met for the first time so many years ago. Where it all began. Chloe walked in first with her usual mischievous smirk and Max followed behind her.  
   
“Chloe, I wrote there was food in the fridge, what are you doing here. Trying to leech another free meal”, a voice said, Max remembered that voice, it could be none other than Joyce. Max resisted the urge to sprint out from behind Chloe’s back and hug Joyce  
   
“Relax mom, I come bearing gifts”, Chloe said and stepped to the side revealing Max, “tadaaaaa”.  
   
Joyce broke into a huge smile, “As I live and breathe, Maxine Caulfield, now I thought I’d never see you again when you all moved to Seattle. Come here and give an old lady a hug”.  
   
“You aren't old Joyce, in fact you look younger than last I were here”, Max said as she sprinted into a hug with Joyce.  
   
 Joyce, who was sporting a few tears of happiness, embraced Max , "Welcome home Max", she said with a smile and hugged her tighter.

When she let Max go she said, “Now I assume you want my world famous ‘Waggles’, don’t you ?”  
   
“Yes, please”, Max almost begged, “I have missed them almost as much as I missed Chloe”  
   
“Well young lady, you are touching a sore subject there, but I guess we can save that talk for another day can’t we ?”, Joyce said with a slightly sterner voice, “Right now I’m just happy you are here. Chloe what do you want ?”  
   
“You know what I want mom, burger with double bacon and fries”  
   
“Ok, It’ll be on the house tonight just because Max is here. I’ll be right down with your food girls”  
   
Max and Chloe walked over to their old booth, the one with C+M 4ever etched into it, sat down and waited for their food.  
   
Max looked around as they waited, nothing much had changed in the diner. It had gotten a new coat of paint, but that was about it. Many of the patrons in here she remembered as the same from 5 years ago, just 5 years older by now.  
   
She felt something hit her cheek, she turned her face towards Chloe who quickly hid a straw behind her back, “did you just spitball me you ass ?”  
   
“I dunno what you are talking about”, Chloe said while she innocently looked around.  
   
“You did, why you little”, Max said as she grabbed her own straw. She was about to retaliate when Joyce arrived with their food.  
   
“Girls, GIRLS. Your food is here, and do remember this is a spitball free zone ever since the ceasefire agreement, remember ?”  
   
The ceasefire agreement made when they were kids had included certain terms, one of them being if anyone broke the ceasefire this party would have to do an entire day's worth of dishes from the Two whales. Both girls quickly remembered this and put their straws on the table. Neither Chloe nor Max wished to have this kind of punishment today. Thank god Joyce apparently hadn’t seen that Chloe actually did break the ceasefire a few seconds earlier.  
   
“That’s better girls, now eat”  
   
Max quickly grabbed her plate of Waffles and dug into it as if her life depended on it. Chloe on the other hand spent a little time watching Max eat with a genuine smile on her lips, before her own hunger overwhelmed her and she too ate as if she could die any second if she stopped.  
   
Once they were done Max leaned back and accidently belched as she tried to say something.  
   
“MAX, I’m shocked at your behaviour !”, Chloe said imitating her mom’s voice, quickly beginning to laugh.  
   
“It was an accident I swear. I never belch”, Max said as she turned beet red.  
   
“So I take it you liked the food young lady”, Joyce said with a chuckle having seen and heard Max’s little accident.  
   
“Yes Joyce, I could eat this forever and die happy”, Max said smiling widely.  
   
“That’s what I like to hear”, Joyce replied, “Now why don’t you two girls go home, I’m sure you have lots of things you need to talk about. Probably something like 5 years worth of stuff”  
   
“Yes, mom. We’ll be good I promise”, Chloe said with a smirk.  
   
“Right, as if. Though with Max around I’m inclined to believe you, but no drinking, you hear me. Still haven’t gotten the stain out of the carpet from last time you two were at it”  
   
“Come on Max, let’s get out of here”  
   
“Goodbye Joyce, I’ll talk to you later”, Max said and waved as Chloe grabbed her other hand and dragged her out of the Two whales towards her truck.


	16. Partytime ?

* * *

  **15\. Partytime ?  
**

“Ok, Now that Max is gone it’s just you and me Kate. So let’s prepare ourselves for the party”  
   
“But Victoria, I...”  
   
“No buts, no ifs, you are going to the party with me !”  
   
“But I’m not confident and beautiful like you are”  
   
“Nonsense Kate, You are just as amazing as I am, we just have to make it so you show it a little more”, Over the past week Victoria had caught herself looking more and more at Kate, noticing just how amazing Kate looked even if she did dress quite conservatively. But that was something Victoria hoped to change, at least for tonight’s party.  
   
“What are you talking about Victoria ?”  
   
“I’m going to dress you up, and do your make-up so you’ll look stunning for the party”  
   
“Thanks, but no thanks Victoria. I’d rather just stay in my room now that Max went with Chloe”  
   
“I thought I said I wouldn’t take no for an answer tonight”, Victoria said it in a way that made Kate realize there was no winning this argument, ”Now off to the showers with you, won’t have you try on my clothes without having washed”  
   
“Your clothes ? You think they’ll fit me Victoria ?”, Kate said ever so slightly nervous.  
   
“Of course they will, and if not I’m sure we can find something in your wardrobe that we can use. Now go shower, I’ll met you in my room when you are done”, Victoria watched as Kate moved towards her towel and shower supplies, as she walked out of Kate’s room towards her own. Ok, this is working out better than expected, and wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be, Victoria thought to herself.  
   
Kate grabbed a towel, her shampoo and went to the showers. Kate had always been slightly embarrassed about her body so she never undressed in front of anyone, afraid that someone would comment on it.  
   
As she stood in the shower letting the warm water run down over her body, she thought about how things had changed in the last week. How she met Max, how she became her friend. How Max became Victoria’s friend and how that now had made Victoria her friend too.  
She had to admit to herself that she liked this new side to Victoria. And for some reason Kate started thinking about Victoria’s smile and how pretty she was. Kate felt a warm sensation move in her stomach area which made her involuntarily smile. No, no, this is sinful, Kate thought. I can’t think such thoughts about my friend, much less about a woman.  
   
Kate finished her shower, dried herself and put on her underwear and a long t-shirt that covered most of her body. She looked in the mirror and didn’t like what she saw. Kate believed she was ugly, nothing could be further from the truth though. Kate was an understated stunner. Amazing long blonde hair, beautiful brown eyes and milky white perfect skin. But this was not what Kate saw in the mirror, because Kate lacked a very important thing, Confidence.  
   
Kate sighed and thought about how silly she would look in Victoria’s clothes as she walked towards Victoria’s room.  
   
“Hey Victoria, can I come in?”  
   
“Of course Kate”  
   
As Kate opened the door and walked in she noticed Victoria had already picked out a bunch of things for her to try.  
   
“Ok, let’s get this show on the road Kate. I think we should try this dress first”, Victoria said and took the short shoulder less white dress she actually wanted Kate to wear.  
   
“Isn’t that a little daring”, Kate said nervously.  
   
“Nonsense, you’ll look great in it. Now get out of that shirt and try it on”  
   
“Aren’t you going to turn around ?”, Kate nervously stuttered  
   
“Why ? you scared I’ll see something I shouldn’t Kate”, Victoria said and winked at Kate.  
   
“No, It’s just, I’m shy and I don’t let anyone see me in my underwear”, Kate said as she blushed hard and looked into the ground.  
   
“Oh for crying out loud Kate, just get on with it”  
   
Kate was extremely nervous now and couldn’t decide exactly what to do. She had never undressed like this in front of anyone and her hands had started shaking a little. Was this a sin ? No, probably not, it would be just like trying stuff out when she went shopping with her mother. Except, this was with Victoria. Kate’s cheeks blushed even more at the thought of being almost naked in front of Victoria.  
   
“Do you actually need me to help you get out of that shirt”, Victoria said getting into her bossy mode again.  
   
This prompted Kate into action and she took the shirt over her head, leaving her standing in the middle of Victoria’s room wearing nothing but a pair of white cotton panties and a bra.  
   
Victoria walked over and took the white dress from the bed, turned around and walked towards Kate with it stretched out. Kate was just standing there looking into the ground nervously stepping on her own feet as Victoria approached with the dress.  
   
Victoria couldn’t help herself and she looked up and down Kate. She was amazed at how perfect Kate’s skin was, Victoria wanted to touch it, but thought better of it. Victoria thought Kate's body was perfect, everything just seemed to match and be in perfect symmetry. She shook her head to release herself from those thoughts.  
   
“Here, try it on Kate”  
   
Kate took the dress and stepped into it, turned around and tried to zip it, but couldn’t reach it on her back, “Victoria could you zip it for me ? “  
   
“Of course”, Victoria walked up to Kate and put her hand on Kate’s shoulder and reached for the zipper with the other. Kate’s Skin felt so smooth, and it was so hot, Victoria thought and she took as long as she dared to pull up the zipper on the dress, just so she could touch Kate a little longer.  
   
Kate on the other hand felt like a forest fire flushed across her face as Victoria touched her bare skin. This had to be sinful, the way Victoria made her feel just by touching her shoulder, she thought. Those thoughts didn’t help one bit with Kate’s facial colour though.  
   
“Ok, all zipped. Now turn around for me”  
   
Kate obliged Victoria and turned around in what she thought was the way a model would do it.  
   
“Not bad, Kate, not bad at all. I think you should definitely wear that”, Victoria said this as she admired Kate in the dress, “Now, let’s find you some shoes and accessories to go with that”  
   
The two girls spent 30-40 minutes finding the right shoes, armbands, a bag and what not for Kate. And when done, Victoria thought it was time to put on some make-up.  
   
“Ok Kate, now you need a little make-up to make you look even better”  
   
“I usually don’t wear make-up, mother says it ruins the skin”  
   
“It won’t be much Kate, I promise”  
   
“Well, ok then, I trust you on this Victoria”  
   
Victoria smiled, trust, such a little word, but it seemed like a huge thing when Kate said it to her. Kate who she had done nothing but belittle in the previous year at Blackwell. Kate had to have the biggest heart in all of the world to forgive me, Victoria thought.  
   
Kate sat down in the chair Victoria pointed at and Victoria got to work giving Kate a little touch up in the make-up department. Nothing extravagant, just the little extras needed to make Kate’s already exquisite features stand out even more. After the make up it was time to do something about Kate’s hair. There was no way in hell Victoria would let Kate go to the party with her hair in a bun.  
   
Kate on the other hand was actually sitting in the chair smiling and somewhat enjoying the attention Victoria gave her. It felt nice to have someone else fuss over you and every now and then comment on how pretty you were. Kate knew it was a sin to be vain, but right now, it felt nice to be vain. Victoria's comments were also doing wonders for Kate's confidence in herself.  
   
“Ok, let’s do something about you hair Kate”  
   
“Is there something wrong with my hair ?”  
   
“No, nothing wrong. It’s just, I think it would be prettier if you let it down instead of having it in a bun. Please Kate, just try it”  
   
Kate sighed, “Ok then”, might as well try it, she thought to herself, what’s the worst that can happen.  
   
Victoria clapped her hands excitedly and started undoing Kate’s bun. As she did she could feel Kate’s hair between her fingers. Kate had really long hair, almost halfway down her back and it was from nature's hand a little curly and really luxurious. It was clear to Victoria that Kate actually took really good care of it. Victoria couldn’t help but feel envy. Kate was so amazingly beautiful and she didn’t even understand it, while Victoria had to go to great lengths everyday to even somewhat match Kate’s natural beauty.  
   
Victoria grabbed her brush, “Is it ok if I brush your hair Kate ?”  
   
Kate blushed a little again, mainly because of how she was feeling right now, pampered and special, but also because she was feeling way too hot at the moment, “Y-yes”, Kate stammered.  
   
Victoria began gently brushing Kate’s hair. She thought to herself that she could do this all night. Victoria began to realize a few things. One, Kate was amazingly beautiful and two, Victoria kinda liked Kate, kinda liked Kate a lot.  
   
Victoria was quickly losing herself while she brushed Kate’s hair and Kate could feel something was off.  
   
“Is something wrong Victoria ?”  
   
“No, everything is fine”, Victoria said, but she had to clear her throat two times before she could get it out.  
   
“Are you sure ? You are not getting a cold are you ?”  
   
Oh Kate, I’m not getting a cold, and even so, how can you even care about me after the tough time I gave you last year, Victoria thought. “I’m fine Kate”, she managed to stammer out.  
   
Kate turned around and looked at Victoria, she noticed Victoria’s hands were shaking a little and that she was blushing slightly.  
   
“Your hands are shaking Victoria, you sure you are ok ?”  
   
Victoria looked up and their eyes met. Victoria’s full of want and desire, Kate’s full of questions.  
“Kate, I”,Victoria began, but she couldn’t finish her sentence before she had to look down. Her heart was beating faster and her face was heating up. How fucking embarrassing she thought, I’m like a little schoolgirl with a crush around Kate.  
   
“Are you blushing Victoria”, Kate said not understanding what was going on, even though she did enjoy how it felt when Victoria brushed her hair.  
   
“Why do you even want to be my friend Kate ? I gave you such a hard time last year”, Victoria said unable to look up and into Kate’s eyes again.  
   
Kate reached out with her hand and used it to make Victoria raise her face so she could look into her eyes, “I forgive you Victoria, you were not nice, but I came to realize that the person I knew last year weren’t you. Max befriending you made me see that you are not all bad. And I think Max might also have something to do with you not being the same as before”  
   
“Yeah, you could say that”  
   
“You like her don’t you ?”  
   
“Max ? Yeah I do, I thought I would hate her, but I don’t. The more time I spend around her the more I realize just how many things we have in common”  
   
As they talked Victoria and Kate’s face had somehow moved dangerously close to each other.  
   
“Victoria, why are you so close to me ?”, kate said as she realized just how close they were.  
   
Victoria panicked and gave a jerk and tried to pull away from Kate, but Kate didn’t let go of her so she couldn’t and instead she ended up dragging Kate and herself onto the floor, instinctively wrapping her arms around Kate, to protect her from getting hurt.  
   
Kate landed on top of Victoria, her long hair covering Victoria’s face and shutting most of the light out. Victoria’s hands were really shaking now, maybe even her whole body did. Victoria wasn’t sure if it did or not. Kate would surely feel it this time. Despite the rumours of Victoria being a complete whore, nothing could be further from the truth. Sure she had kissed a few guys and knew how to tongue play, but she hadn’t really gone further. In the love department she was pretty much a complete novice, just no one else really knew that. So Victoria was shaking badly, nervous and scared as she was of all these emotions surging through her.  
   
Kate was just there, she didn’t move a muscle, this was so wrong, she was so close to Victoria, another girl, and she liked it. She could feel Victoria’s boobs press against her own through the clothes, she felt Victoria’s arms around her back.  
Kate had no idea what had gotten into her and she moved her hand up and gently caressed Victoria’s cheek. She could feel Victoria’s body shaking and her eyes flickered nervously as she did. Was this why Victoria had asked her to go to the party with her, did Victoria like her.  
Kate wasn’t sure what to do next, she was after all a novice at a lot of things. Victoria on the other hand wasn’t a complete novice, but she was petrified with fear of having ruined everything with her stupid feelings running wild.  
   
So there they were, on the floor in Victoria’s room. Kate’s hair covering both their faces, the last rays of the evening sun peeking in through Victoria’s window made it look like it was a halo surrounding them. Kate then did something she would never in a million years have believed she would do, but something compelled her to do it. As she looked into Victoria’s sparkly green eyes her lips edged ever closer to hers, and then she kissed her. Not on the cheek, or forehead like she would do her sisters, but on the lips. As she did Victoria's body stopped shaking and instead became perfectly still. If you had asked Kate after, she wouldn’t be able to tell you why she did it. It wasn’t a perfect kiss, far from it. In fact it was Kate’s first kiss with anyone that wasn’t her immediate family. But to Kate and Victoria, it was the most amazing thing they had ever done.

After a moment Kate pulled back and looked Victoria into the eyes, she couldn’t help but break into a smile. She noticed a smile also came to Victoria’s face.  
   
“Wow”, Victoria whispered, “I did not see this happening when I woke up this morning”  
   
“Me neither”, Kate said with a slight chuckle, “But I’m a sinner now I guess. This is unnatural and sinful”  
   
“Bullshit. Anything that feels this right can’t be a sin”  
   
“But my mother and aunt will say it is”  
   
“And since when did they know anything about this, don’t go saying this is a sin Kate”  
   
Kate wanted to disagree, she wanted to say that the bible stated it was and that god would punish her for doing this. But she couldn’t, if anything she believed that the bible preached acceptance and forgiveness. So Kate accepted this for what it was and she guessed she would have to ask for gods forgiveness some other time.  
   
“You are right Victoria, I can’t think this is a sin”, and Kate then leaned in and gave Victoria another kiss. “but shouldn’t we be getting ready for a party, I notice I’m the only one wearing a pretty dress”, Kate said with more confidence and sassiness than she had felt, well, ever.  
   
Victoria just smiled, “You know Kate, I don’t know where all this sass is suddenly coming from, but I like it. Anyway, you should take a look at yourself in the mirror and see just how pretty you are”  
   
Kate untangled herself from Victoria and got up and stood in front of the mirror. She was taken aback at the person looking back at her. Is this me, Kate thought. Her lightly curled hair was flowing down over her shoulders, and she noticed how Victoria had given her just the right amount of make-up to accentuate her features, the dress coupled with the jacket and boots, which Victoria had picked out, made her look grown up and beautiful, like a model. Kate barely recognized the woman looking back at her in the mirror.

“Holy cow”, was all Kate got out.  
   
“Indeed, you look beautiful”, Victoria said and gave Kate a squeeze and a kiss on the cheek.  
   
Kate knew it was sinful, but she couldn’t help but admire herself. So much so, that she didn’t notice Victoria getting out of her clothes and putting on the outfit she had picked for herself.

After a bit she tore herself away from the mirror only to notice Victoria had already changed into her party clothes and was now applying her make-up.  
   
Some 30 mins later Victoria were done, the clock turned 23:30 and it was time to go to the party. They’d be late of course, but fashionably so. It was only fitting Victoria thought as she grabbed Kate’s hand.  
   
“Let’s go party Kate”  
   
“Yes let’s, tonight I’m ready for anything”, Kate said feeling more ready than ever before. They walked out of Victoria’s room hand in hand, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So..yeah..Kate happened. Not sure everyone can tolerate Kate being this forward all of a sudden. I just wanted to have her react to the situation without thinking and then gaining confidence in herself somehow. Not sure I managed to describe her inner conflict in all of this that well...but it's what I decided on..So Kate's gonna go to a party with Victoria, I wonder what will happen


	17. Home away from home

* * *

**16\. Home away from home**

As Max and Chloe arrived at Chloe’s place, they noticed another car was in the driveway.

“Great, just fanfuckingtasticly great, stepfucker is home”, Chloe hissed.

“Who ?”

“Mom remarried”

“Ah, yes, Rachel may have said something about that. You don’t like him much do you”

“How on earth did you manage to deduct that Sherlock ?”, Chloe said her voice dripping in sarcasm.

“Oh, I don’t know dear Watson, maybe it was your use of the not so flattering term ‘stepfucker’”, Max said in her best queen’s English accent, failing miserably at it of course, leaving both her and Chloe laughing.

“I see your accent’s still haven’t gotten any better”

“Nor have yours, your captain’s voice earlier was even worse than when we were kids”

“Hey I resent that comment”, Chloe said with a smile in her eyes. Chloe had once again caught herself falling back into how she behaved Max when they were kids. Chloe could feel that all too familiar sensation grow inside her. Even more so now that Max was right next to her. Chloe loved Max so much, she wished she had the guts to just blurt it out and see what would happen. But Chloe was to scared of losing Max again in case she didn’t feel the same.

Max was overjoyed, her and Chloe was back in business again. Best friends forever, yes. Though secretly Max wished Chloe would one day understand, that she wanted more than just friendship. But just as Chloe, Max was to scared of trying anything. She couldn’t lose Chloe again, even if Rachel had said Chloe loved Max, Max didn’t fully believe it.

“Ok Max, the game plan is to run in, up the stairs to my room as fast as we possibly can. Stepdick is probably in the garage messing around with his muscle car. With luck he won’t even notice we are here”

Chloe and Max walked to the door as silently as they could, trying to sneak like ninjas. But as soon as they had opened the door and were in the entrance, a voice boomed at them.

“Chloe, is that you, we need to talk”, Chloe and Max heard footsteps in the living room and before they could even think to move up the stairs. David was on them.

“Who are you ?”, he gruffly said to Max.

“Relax, she’s a friend of mine”, Chloe aggressively said

"You don’t have any friends Chloe”

“She’s a friend from before you ever got your sorry ass into my life”, Chloe shouted, “Just leave us alone you ass hole, you can’t tell me to do shit, you aren’t even my dad. Just fuck off and leave us alone”

Chloe knew just how to press David’s buttons and he took a step forward and got into a threatening posture. He was about to lift his hand to hit, but he thought better of himself and lowered it again. He couldn’t hit Chloe and he knew it, Joyce would never forgive him if he did. Despite Chloe being stubborn and troublesome, he loved both her and her mother dearly. Joyce had seen his good side which was why she married him in the first place. He just didn’t know how to handle Chloe, not that she ever gave him a chance to try. David just wished she wouldn’t always get in his face like that. Though deep down he knew that how he was and acted towards her probably didn’t help. He and Chloe had been stuck in a rut ever since Joyce had married him and he didn’t know any other way.

“I”, he started, but Chloe saw the defeat in his eyes and knew she had won the fight.

“Why don’t you crawl back in the garage where you belong sergeant dickhead”, she said with a hatred in her voice, which Max had never seen or heard Chloe have, not even back when she hurled Max out of her life had she spoken with a pure hatred like this.

“let’s go up to your room Chloe, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it”, Max said. Max tugged at Chloe's arm insistently, but Chloe wasn’t immediately willing to go, she was after all winning an argument over David. Eventually Chloe somewhat reluctantly followed Max up the stairs.

Max looked at David as she tugged at Chloe. She saw him look down to the ground, then up again with a sad look on his face. Max saw that he was holding himself back, he could easily have hurt Chloe if he wanted, but he didn’t. Max thought that he was probably doing all he could, but just didn’t know how to do it so Chloe wouldn’t hate him. Chloe was in truth not making it any easier, as they walked up the stairs Chloe kept tossing insults at David. Max shook her head and thought it was pretty childish of Chloe to continue on like that. David probably never intended to take her father’s place and he never could even if he tried. But Joyce had seen something in him, and if Joyce liked him, there had to be something good in him Max thought, despite his gruff behaviour.

Finally they got to the door and Chloe stopped her word barrage and turned around to face Max, “Max, my room probably doesn’t look like you remember it”

“How so ?”

“You’ll see”, Chloe opened the door, ”Welcome to my private little shithole”, she said and spread out her arms and bowed to no one in particular.

Chloe hadn’t lied. The room looked nothing like it did back when they were younger. It was full of graffiti and posters of half naked women on the wall. Max did find that slightly odd for a girl to have posters of half naked women on the wall. One sentence caught Max’s eyes. The height measurement next to Chloe’s bed, where her dad had measured her and Max’s heights. Their names had been crossed over and a sentence over it simply said, they are all gone. It made Max shiver involuntarily.

“So what do you think Max, pretty hardcore huh”

“It’s just like you I guess. Nothing like it used to be, but beautiful in it's own way”, Max said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

Chloe didn’t hear the sadness in Max’s voice, but she did hear what she said. So I am beautiful in my own way. Wait Max thinks I’m beautiful, Chloe smiled to herself at this thought.

“What are you smiling at ?”, Max said with a puzzled look on her face.

“Oh nothing in particular. Just I’m in my room, with my best friend. For once something seems to be going my way in life”

“You know, I were thinking the exact same thing”, Max said with a growing smile on her lips and a weird feeling pooling in her stomach.

Chloe walked over to her bed, sat down and patted the bed next to her, “Have a seat Pete !”

Max walked over and sat down next to Chloe. Chloe snuck her arm around Max’s back and pulled her closer, giving her a one armed hug.

“I just wish we’d never been apart Max”

“So do I Chloe. I keep wondering what could’ve been, had we not both been scared, stubborn and maybe a little stupid”, Max said with a sigh.

“Yeah, I guess we’d be the talk of the town, the hot gay couple running Blackhell”, Chloe almost immediately regretted what she had just blurted out without any thought.

“So we’d be gay huh, and a couple”, Max decided it was time to tease Chloe a little, “What makes you think I wouldn’t be with Rachel instead”

Chloe’s mouth opened, and closed and her heart froze in fear. So Max did like Rachel. Maybe Max had said she wasn’t a virgin, because she had been more than a friend of Rachel.

Chloe’s hand started shaking and Max felt it, maybe she had taken it a bit too far. Rachel was probably a sore point for both of them.

“Don’t worry so much Chloe, I’ve never even met Rachel, only chatted with her over the phone and Skype”

Chloe somewhat regained her composure, and spoke, “So you and Rachel knew each other. For how long ?”

“Rachel called me sometime in early spring. You know we actually had made a big plan about how I would come and live with her over the summer, so I could be back here sooner, but..”, Max began, but was interrupted by Chloe.

“You what !”, Chloe hissed, her anger flaring up almost immediately, “You fucking little bitch, I knew this was too good to be true. You are probably just using me to find Rachel, so you can run off again. Why don’t you just leave Max, and don’t come back this time”, Chloe said this with a rage filled hard voice. Her anger and jealousy overpowering all other thoughts in her head.

“Maybe I should Chloe”, Max said her own anger flaring up, “If this is how you intend to behave every time I try to explain something, then I see no reason to stay. You didn’t even let me finish before you got angry”, Max’s felt herself tear up because of the unfairness of all this. How Chloe hadn’t changed one bit, hadn’t learned a fucking thing from her past mistakes. Max got up from the bed forcing herself away from Chloe's embrace and moved towards the door. Why does it always have to be so hard with me and Chloe, she thought as tears starting to run down her cheeks.

As soon as Max got up and started moving away, Chloe realized her error. That she had once again let her anger get the better of her, that she was about to make the same mistake she did five years ago. Chloe flew up from her bed and rushed towards Max, she put a hand on her shoulder to hold her back.

“Please, don’t go Max”, Chloe whispered, with a voice so shaky and desperate that she almost didn't recognize it. She was so afraid that Max would just shrug her hand off and run down the stairs and leave her life once again, that all her anger had gone as fast as it came.

Max felt that Chloe's hand on her shoulder was shaking and she heard the silent desperation in Chloe’s voice. Max turned around and rammed her fists into Chloe’s chest with such force it knocked the air out of Chloe. Chloe staggered backwards, hitting and then falling onto her bed.

“You asshole ! You were doing the exact same thing you did last time I was in this room, remember Chloe. Except this time at least you stopped me from leaving”, Max wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks as her fists clenched and unclenched, “Why does it always have to be so fucking hard with you, why does it take me leaving, before you understand anything”

Chloe got up from the bed, and walked over to Max, and embraced her, “I’m sorry Max, I’m so fucking sorry for everything. I’m so broken and hurt that I don’t always know why I do what I do. It’s just, there is so fucking much I don’t know. So many things I don’t understand any more. I just wish things could be simple again like when we were kids”

Max opened her mouth and mumbled something into Chloe’s shirt her words being muffled by it, “wove uw cwoe, awys hwave”.

“What was that Max, I couldn't hear what you said”

Max pulled her head out of Chloe’s shirt and looked up into Chloe’s deep blue eyes. Her emotions were going haywire and without thinking the words just came out on their own, “I love you Chloe, I always have”. Too late her senses caught up with her emotions and she realized what she had just said. Max wished she could turn back time and not say it. Chloe would surely push her away now, she’d not be ready for this yet, maybe never. One way or the other, Max knew that there would be consequences from her words.

Chloe's heart had just stopped, it was like time stood still as she looked into Max’s eyes and she too got lost in them. Did she hear that right. Had Max just told her that..that she loved her. Chloe saw the truth in her eyes, those wonderful blue eyes framed by her freckled innocent face. She had loved Max forever, probably always had. Just what to do now. Chloe was sure but also unsure, this was all going to fucking fast. Yet it felt right and it felt good hearing those words come out of Max’s mouth. Almost like it was always meant to be like that, even if Max probably hadn't meant to blurt it out like that.

“Max, I”, Chloe stuttered out, her voice cracking and she was struggling to find words, her whole body was shaking and Max could feel it.

Max looked away from Chloe in defeat, “You, you don’t have to say anything Chloe. I...I know..I know, you don’t feel like that about me. I’ll just let myself out and take the bus to the dorm. I’m so sorry Chloe, just forget I ever said anything”, Max stammered out and started moving towards the door as her tears started falling again. I should’ve know it was all too good to be true, she thought. It seemed all she ever did when she was near Chloe was crying.

“Now who’s the one not letting someone else finish before jumping to conclusions ?”, Chloe said as she remembered Max’s earlier outburst.

Max turned around and looked up at Chloe with her big blue doe like eyes, her cheeks still wet from crying. Chloe couldn’t quite comprehend how Max managed to look so damn beautiful even when she was miserable.

“Max...Max I ehmm”, Chloe had to clear her throat and try again, “Max I, I think I’ve always loved you. I just didn’t realize it until you were gone”, Chloe tried her hardest not to get overwhelmed by her own emotions and cry too, “I wanted to contact you and apologize so many times but I always chickened out. Then mom remarried and I met Rachel, things sorta settled into a routine, and I guess maybe I just gave up”

“I know the feeling”, Max said with a voice thick with sorrow and regret.

“But I mean, I did have my ups and downs. The worst days were on the anniversary of you leaving. I would go to the lighthouse and talk to you. Asking why you weren’t here, why you hadn’t called, why you left, saying how sorry I were about everything. Pathetic really”, Chloe said as a lump was forming in her throat making it difficult to speak.

“Not really”, Max said, figuring it was time to tell some of her own sad story, “I had an imaginary you in Seattle to keep me company when I were sad or lonely, which was often. I tried so many times to write or contact you. But every time the fear of you rejecting me or not answering got the better of me. Chloe I missed you so much, I wasn’t whole when you weren’t there”

Max looked up at Chloe, studied the features of her face, the sharp edginess to it. The blue hair, her eyes, her lips. Max gently slid her hand into Chloe’s and their fingers intertwined. For the first time in years the two girls were as close as they could get, as close as they had always been destined to be. Max and Chloe looked deep into each other’s eyes. It was as if the world stood still in that moment. Almost as if fate guided them Chloe’s hand cupped Max’s cheek and gently caressed it. Max moved her lips to Chloe’s and kissed her. From the outside It wasn’t a passionate lovers kiss, it was a kiss of release, of pure bliss. One that removed whatever hold their time apart had had over them. It was a brief gentle kiss, but it felt like an eternity to both of them.

Max slowly moved her lips away from Chloe’s, and Chloe mumbled, “I love you Max”, so silently that only the spirits in the wind could hear it.

Max still heard it and smiled like only true love can make you do, “And I love you Chloe”

Chloe pulled Max onto the bed and the two girls laid next to each other holding hands.

“I wish the world would go away and leave us alone for a bit”, Max said wishing it could be true in this very moment.

“I’d like that too Max”, Chloe said wistfully.

It was all getting a bit much for the both of them. In one day they had met again, shouted at each other, fought, argued, reconciled, confessed love and kissed.

Max closed her eyes, just for a bit she told herself, but a bit ended up with her falling asleep.

Chloe noticed this, leaned over and watched Max as she slept. Chloe couldn’t believe what had happened today. This was all moving so fast, yet Chloe was more than happy to have Max back. Not just back, Max loved her. She knew this for sure now. We needed five years apart to get to this point, to understand this.

Chloe looked at Max with eyes full of love, and had anyone seen it, it would be clear to them exactly what Chloe felt for Max. Chloe gently pulled the blanket out from under Max and put it over the both of them. She noticed Max snuggling closer to her in her sleep. Chloe smiled and put her arm around Max, which in turn made Max almost melt into her embrace. This is just like when we were kids, Chloe thought. Max would always snuggle as close as she could to me when we had sleepovers. The difference from then to now, is that now Chloe knew why Max did it and it made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Chloe closed her eyes and felt Max’s warm body against her own. Maybe we really got our wish, she thought dreamily, maybe the world just went away and left us alone. Chloe drifted off to sleep with a feeling of fulfilment and happiness that hadn’t been there in a long time.

The doe looked into Chloe's room from the outside, if a spirit could smile, then that's what it did. Humans were so complex, but true love was something so rare that the few times one saw it, you would never forget it. It had been right to protect them all those years ago. The two of them had earned this moment of peace, sadly it wouldn't last. But for now, in this moment, their wish had been granted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :-) I think I got away with it...hate, anger, breakup and love in the same chapter.. ;-)


	18. It’s all about appearance

* * *

  **17\. It’s all about appearance**

Kate and Victoria arrived at the party being greeted by none other than Taylor and Courtney at the door.  
   
“So where is the selfie whore Tori ?”, Courtney spat out.  
   
“She had somewhere more important to be tonight, not that it’s any of your business anyway Courtney”, Victoria said with a sneer. She had always known that Courtney was just there to be a groupie for whomever had power. Which was why Victoria had always pushed her around and made her do shit for her. Taylor on the other hand, she's actually Victoria’s friend, so with her new found belief in being nice, Victoria felt bad for what she had said to Taylor earlier.  
   
“Gotta suck to be dumped by Maxine fucking Caufield”, Taylor said, with obvious anger in her voice. Taylor knew that Victoria hadn't fully meant what she had said to her earlier, but it just hurt that Victoria so quickly had seemingly left her behind to be with Kate and Max.  
   
Kate was unaware as to what Victoria had told the two of them earlier, but knew it had to have been something bad with the amount of hostility the two of them were showing. None the less Kate tried to be her usual gentle self and extended an invitation to them, “Taylor, Courtney, why don’t you join us ?”, she said.  
   
Victoria cringed when she heard what Kate said, oh Kate please don’t, you don’t know what I told them earlier, she thought.  
   
“Hmppf, after what Tori said, I’d rather slit my wrists. And you, it's pathetic how you've tried to dress up, you look like a fucking whore. Let me guess, Victoria chose the dress for you, extra slutty, how sad. You really think it'll make a difference. Just you wait, next week Victoria will be done with you and she'll leave you like the slut you are and come back to us. You'll be destroyed, wondering what it was that hit you”, Courtney said angrily gesticulating at Kate.  
   
Taylor on the other hand had gone silent and seemed unsure about what to do. Kate was innocent in all of this, and Taylor knew it. Just because Courtney and her had beef with Victoria, Kate didn't deserve to be caught in the crossfire. She most certainly didn't deserve the tongue lashing Courtney was dishing out to her, Taylor knew that much.  
   
Victoria's anger was getting the better of her. She didn't care if they tried to hurt her, but Courtney had lashed out at Kate. Victoria was not about to let her get away with that, “Whatever bitch”, Victoria said, “Kate might not be a perfect being like you, but at least me and her haven't been admitted to a mental asylum, twice, for psychotic episodes, like you have”.  
   
Upon hearing those words, Courtney’s mouth opened, and closed, “You absolute bitch. You promised, you fucking promised you’d never say that to anyone”, Courtney said, and if looks could kill, Victoria would be dead ten times over.  
   
“Yeah, well that was until you started behaving like a fucking power hungry cunt and lashing out at Kate”, Victoria spat back.  
   
Courtney's was clenching her fists and breathing hard through her nose like an angry bull, “Come on Taylor, let’s get away from these two losers”, she said fuming in anger and started pulling Taylor away.  
   
Taylor followed reluctantly, but kept looking back at Victoria and Kate.  
   
“Tori, why did you say that ?”, Kate said, somewhat in shock over the whole conversation. She had not expected this kind of hostility.  
   
“I’m sorry Kate,I shouldn’t have. She just made me so angry”  
   
“Still, you just blurted out a secret Courtney told you in confidence”

“I know. I’m sorry.”  
   
“Don’t tell me, you should apologise to Courtney”  
   
“Yes, well not right now. Even more so, I did say some pretty bad stuff to both of them earlier, when I told I’d rather spend time with you and Max over them. They probably don’t want to speak with me”  
   
“Really ? I thought you had turned over a new page and would be nice ?”, Kate said slightly disappointed.  
   
“Kate I’m trying, really I am. It’s so easy to be nice to you and Max, because you don't judge me to harshly. It’s different with Courtney and Taylor, I guess I’ve just been the mean ice queen facade with them for too long to change into something else with them easily”

"That's about the worst excuse I've ever heard Tori", Kate said, "You were so mean to me last year, and you are telling me it's easier to be nice to me than it is to be nice to Courtney and Taylor ?"

"It's hard to explain", Victoria said and sighed, "I want to be nice, but they know which of my buttons to press so they just bring out my claws so easily"

“Well, baby steps I guess”, Kate said and gave Victoria a kiss on the cheek, this in turn made Victoria blush. Victoria wasn’t used to someone showing affection for her publicly like that.  
   
“Kate, why’d you do that ? We are in public you know”  
   
“You scared someone will notice you're being kissed by a girl hotter than you ?”, Kate said with a glimmer in her eye, "besides I thought this was a party, not a funeral", Kate's confidence was surging again, despite Courtney's words earlier. She really was on a roll tonight.  
   
“And here I thought you were the innocent one”, Victoria said, but couldn’t help giving Kate a shy smile. I wonder what beast I have awoken, she thought to herself, not that I mind her kissing me at all. She is so beautiful, and pretty much oblivious to it.  
   
Kate looked at Victoria with a smile, “Let's go inside”  
   
“Sure Kate”  
   
Victoria grabbed Kate’s hand again and together they walked inside towards the party. At the entrance Stella was standing at a table handling the wardrobe. She gave Kate a look and at first didn’t recognize her, then it dawned on her who it was and that she was holding hands with Victoria.  
   
“Holy shitballs, Kate !”, Stella said, openly staring at Kate, forgetting that it’s impolite to openly check someone out like she was doing. When she realized it she just looked down and a slight blush appeared and she muttered, “Someone’s looking hot tonight”.  
   
“Don’t worry about it Stella, and thanks. I feel pretty awesome too”, Kate beamed a smile at Stella, “Why aren’t you at the party ?”  
   
“Oh you know, not really my scene and I need the money. So I’m doing this tonight. Didn’t really think it’d be your scene either”  
   
“I didn’t think so either, but Victoria convinced me to come tonight”, Kate said and couldn’t help but smile even more as she thought of Victoria.  
   
“Ahhh, I sense a story there, even more so because I think I saw you two come in here hand in hand. You’ll have to spill all the details Kate”  
   
“Maybe someday”, Kate said and winked at Stella, making her blush again.  
   
“You coming Kate”, Victoria said, having impatiently waited for Kate.  
   
“Yes babe, I’ll be right there”, Kate said feeling more daring than ever. It worked, Victoria blushed furiously as she realized what Kate had said, and Stella just stood there with her mouth wide open in amazement. Never in a million years had she expected such words coming from the mouth of sweet innocent Kate Marsh.  
   
Victoria grabbed Kate’s hand and dragged her away from the wardrobe and into the party room, “You gone crazy Kate, do you realize what this will do to my reputation, not to mention yours ?”  
   
“Does it matter Victoria ? Max doesn’t care about some silly high school reputation, so why should I”, Kate looked into Victoria’s eyes, ”I’ve realized I care about you, not my reputation”, she said and pulled Victoria closer.  
   
“Not here Kate, people could see us. I don’t want people to see our intimate moments. I want to savour them with you, and only you”, Victoria said desperately trying to stop Kate from kissing her in public.  
   
“Then why did we go to the party. We could’ve just stayed in your room all night, or in mine”, Kate had no idea what had gotten into her, but she felt hot and something was stirring in her abdomen. She almost felt like something compelled her to keep testing the boundaries tonight.  
   
Victoria, had no idea what to say, she’d been silenced by the sweet and usually shy and silent bible thumper. She tried to figure out what to do or say, but instead stood flustered and couldn't think of anything.  
   
She saw Kate smile, grab her hands and pull her to the side, into a darker corner. Kate’s face came closer and then they were kissing. Victoria felt Kate’s tongue probe her lips and she couldn’t help, but open her mouth and allow it to have access. When she did a moan escaped her lips and she could feel Kate smiling as they kissed. After a bit Kate stopped and pulled her face away, her hands still cupping Victoria’s cheeks. The look she gave Victoria was one full of love and desire. Victoria almost lost it then and there. Her knees went weak and her heart was racing from the kiss she had just received. She had no idea how to deal with all of these emotions, but she liked it and she liked Kate.  
   
“Let’s dance Victoria”, Kate said with a wink and intertwined her fingers with Victoria’s as she pulled her towards the dance floor.  
   
When they got there and started dancing, it was clear that none of the people on it and around it noticed that it was Kate that was dancing with Victoria. Most actually just stared hungrily at them, mainly at Kate. Kate felt dirty, but also a little elated. These guys desired her. She knew it was sinful, but it felt so nice to be desired, even if she didn’t want any of these guys. She only wanted Victoria.

Victoria noticed the same, and it made her feel great. Kate was dancing with her, looking at her, not wanting anyone but her. It made her happy.

After a couple of dances, they decided to go to the bar and have something to drink. Victoria ordered a tequila and a water for Kate.  
   
“How considerate of you, getting me water”, Kate said and stole a kiss.  
   
Victoria once again blushed, but managed to answer, “Oh, you wanted something else ?”  
   
Kate laughed, “No , I prefer water. I think I’m already in the deep end, don’t need to get drunk too”, she said with a smile.  
   
“Why Kate, am I detecting that you are actually enjoying yourself”, Victoria said as she smiled back at Kate.  
   
“Maybe”, Kate wiggled her eyebrows at Victoria who in turn began to laugh.  
   
“So who’s the chick Victoria ? “, A familiar voice said, “and why are you out here with the rabble and not in the VIP section”  
   
“Nathan”, Victoria said hoping he hadn’t seen the two of them kissing earlier, “I just felt like dancing a little first, is that a crime ?”  
   
“Not when it’s with a hot girl like that”, he said and looked at Kate, “So who are you beautiful ?”  
   
“Who do you think ?”, Kate said with a teasing smile, as she winked at Nathan. Kate felt a freedom she had never felt before, she felt invincible.  
   
“I’m not sure, I don’t think I have seen you before at Blackwell”  
   
“Oh I think you have”, Victoria said, and couldn’t help giggling a little at poor Nathan, who was obviously completely unaware as to who was standing in front of him.  
   
“No, I don’t think so, I’m pretty sure I’d remember if I had seen such a pretty girl here”  
   
Victoria smiled, “Nathan, meet Kate Marsh, Kate meet Nathan Prescott”, Victoria said in a formal voice.  
   
“Holy fucking shit, are you kidding me ?“, Nathan said and raised an eyebrow in surprise.  
   
“No she isn’t Nathan, it is me, Kate”, Kate said and couldn’t help but smile widely at the fact that Nathan hadn’t recognized her.  
   
“Well shit. Had I known earlier that you were this hot Kate, then I wouldn’t have been such an ass to you last year”, Nathan said and then as he saw the look Victoria gave him, “I mean, uhm, let me rephrase that”, a sudden nervousness entered Nathan, he wasn’t used to doing stuff like this, ”I should have been nicer to you than I were, I’m sorry Kate”  
   
“Apology accepted, and you are forgiven Nathan”  
   
“Say what. Well fuck me sideways, I guess you can dress her up, making her a total hottie, but you can’t change who she is. A bible swinging forgiving saint”, Nathan blurted out, “aww fuck me. I mean sorry..Ahh shit, I’m not good at this”, he said and looked at the two girls who seemed to be caught in a giggling fit, “What ? arghh what the fuck ever, come to the VIP section when you are tired of the rabble”, and with that Nathan walked off, sending a glare in their general direction now and then.  
   
“Sorry”, Victoria said, “He is a little rough around the edges, but he really is trying to be nice”  
   
“It’s ok, he is trying to change which is more than what can be said about most people”  
   
“Wanna go to the VIP section ?”, Victoria asked.  
   
“Sure, let’s see what it’s all about”  
   
Victoria took Kate’s hand and pulled her towards the VIP entrance. As they got there Courtney stood at the entrance.  
   
“You dragging her here, Victoria ? Lowly whores like her doesn’t belong here”  
   
“And you do Courtney ? You wouldn’t even be in the VIP section if it wasn’t for me”, Victoria said as she felt the all to familiar anger rising in her.  
   
Courtney just huffed at that and walked away. But Victoria could feel Courtney's eyes trying to burn a hole in the back of her skull.  
   
Victoria and Kate entered the VIP section. As Kate had expected it was more of a lounge area than a party area, large comfy couches along the wall, some fancy tables and a bar. All the popular kids were here and they all looked at her.  
   
Apart from Taylor, Dana was the only one to recognize her and with a squeal she ran over to hug her.  
   
“OH MY GOD, KATE. You look amazing”, Dana shouted out to be louder than the dj’s music.  
   
Kate blushed at the praise, she wasn’t used to getting compliments like that at all. Even less so from a girl like Dana, who spent more time on her looks than the average person spent working, “Victoria helped me with make up and clothes”  
   
“Did she now, well who’d have known Victoria would be helping you after how she was treating you last year”, Dana said looking at Victoria, who uncharacteristicly was looking down blushing, stepping on her own toes. Dana quickly put two and two together, she was after all the campus matchmaker, “Wait, is there something here I don’t know”  
   
“Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t”, Kate said and winked at Dana.  
   
“Kate you minx, you two actually. OH MY GOD, I can’t believe it”, Dana said with clear surprise in her voice.  
   
“Easy there Dana”, Kate said, “I’m not sure either one of us know exactly what this is just yet”  
   
“Oh really, I can see how Victoria looks at you. And how you just looked at her, yes, just like that”, She said as Kate glanced at Victoria, “That’s something else than not knowing what it is”  
   
“Well, maybe we just need a little time, ok”, Victoria said as she entered the conversation, “and maybe you could like, not tell the entire school, cause we’d kinda like not everyone to know”  
   
Dana just looke at Victoria in disbelief, “Are you kidding me Victoria ? You drag Kate into the VIP section, she looks amazing, and I mean she outshines everyone in here, and you expect people not to talk. Trust me, tomorrow and the day after and probably next month, they’ll be talking about it”  
   
Kate and Victoria shared a look, and they both reached the conclusion that Dana was right. People would talk about this, there’d be no stopping that.  
   
“Well, in that case”, Kate said and pulled Victoria close and gave her a kiss right on the lips in front of everyone. As she pulled away she murmured, “In for a penny, in for a pound”  
   
There were plenty of wolf whistles at this, and Dana exclaimed, “Kate, had I known this last year”, as she wiggled her eyebrows at her.

Kate just sent her a wink, as a blushing Victoria pulled her close again and whispered into her ear, “Kate, you do know there’ll be talking and they’ll spread rumours, and what about your family. Won't there be repercussions for you ?”  
   
“There will be”, Kate said, “But as long as we stand together I think It’ll be ok. Well maybe not at first, but eventually it will”. The two girls then sat down on a couch and chatted happily together or looked at each other with awkward smiles, which you’ll only find from two people that like each other, but haven’t figured out yet, that they actually love each other.  
   
Nathan stood at the bar, he had a big old smile on his face. He hadn’t seen Victoria this happy in a long time, well actually he'd never seen her this happy before. And never in a million years had he imagined it would be with someone like Kate, nor that Kate was actually as smoking hot as she was tonight. He fumbled with his cellphone and took a snapshot of the two, attached it to a text and sent it.  
   
Somewhere else a phone beeped and a message arrived, ‘be ready, I’ll have her tonight’ and there was an attachment with a photo of Kate.  
   
At some point Victoria had to go to the bathroom, so she got up and Kate followed her, “I’ll go get some water from the bar, I’ll wait for you there”, Kate said.  
   
Victoria smiled and waved, as she went out of sight and walked towards the bathroom.  
   
Kate walked towards the bar and leaned against it, as she waited for the bartender to notice her.

Before he could though, Nathan was there, “Hey Kate”  
   
“Oh hi again Nathan. Didn’t think you’d be out here with the rabble”, Kate said with a little smile.  
   
“Well if you are out here with Victoria, I guess I can deal with it too. Where is she by the way ?”  
   
“She went to the bathroom, I’m waiting for her here”  
   
“Oh, ok. Anything I can get for you ?”  
   
“Yeah, some water would be nice”  
   
“Hey, Bartender, a bottle of water and a beer for me, now !”, Nathan barked  
   
Kate looked at the bartender, there was something familiar about him, and then it dawned on her. It was Warren.  
   
“Hi Warren”, Kate said.  
   
Warren looked up and smiled confused, he knew the voice but not the girl in front of the bar.  
   
“It’s me, Kate”, Kate said.  
   
“Oh, OH”, Warren’s eyes grew huge in surprise and he swallowed visibly as he looked her up and down, “You look great Kate”  
   
“Feel great too”  
   
“Yadda, Yadda, Yadda, less talk more go get our drinks”, Nathan said  
   
Kate gave Nathan a disapproving look.  
   
“What ? He’s hired to do this”, Nathan said as he looked at Kate.  
   
Kate just sighed and decided not to berate Nathan. She probably couldn’t change him anyway.

Warren soon returned with water for Kate and a beer for Nathan.

Nathan grabbed the water, took the cap off it and gave it to Kate, “Here you go, a bottle of water for the pretty lady”.

Nathan took a sip of his beer and watched as Kate took a gulp of water. They both put their drinks on the bar.

Kate felt a bit of a bitter aftertaste, but thought nothing of it.  
   
“So, you and Victoria”, Nathan started, “If anyone had told me last year I would’ve laughed them right in the face”  
   
“I know, I would probably have laughed too”  
   
“Even more if they had they told me that you’d be a total hottie”, Nathan added with a smile.  
   
“I know”, Kate said this with an ever growing smile appearing on her face, “To be honest Nathan, I’m surprised at myself. I never saw myself as this. What I'm doing is sinful and yet, I can’t help but not care. I mean, I know this will have my family going, but I really like Victoria. I mean, we have just started this today, but it feels so right. I just can't stop myself”  
   
“I've known Victoria for a long time, and I've never seen her smile like she's done tonight”, Nathan said, thinking aloud he added, "I think she loves you, she just haven't realized it yet"

Kate looked at him, she didn't know what to think. She didn't know anything about love, we'll she knew love, just not love love. Could it be possible that Victoria loved her. Kate didn't reply Nathan, instead she couldn't help but to think about the way she felt for Victoria. After a bit she concluded, that even if her and Victoria had only just started their relationship tonight, if the ever growing pool of emotions she felt was an indicator, then she was probably utterly and completely in love with Victoria. Maybe it was true what some of the romantic books she had read had stated, that love was a lightning strike and it could hit you at any time.  
   
They both picked up their drinks and took another sip and small talked a bit more waiting for Victoria.

Kate started feeling slightly wobbly after a few more sips. Where is Victoria, it can’t take that long to go to the toilet, she thought.  
   
“Something wrong Kate, you don’t look so good”, Nathan said with concern in his voice.  
   
“Not sure”, Kate said, “I’m suddenly not feeling very well”, her eyes became blurry and she had trouble standing straight, “Could you tell Victoria that I’m not feeling well and went to my dorm room”  
   
“I’ll help you get there”, Nathan offered.  
   
“Noo, I’ll be fine”, Kate said, but feeling increasingly unsure if that was the truth, as her head started swimming and she felt dizzy,. She started making her way towards the exit and she managed to get out. The fresh air made her head somewhat clearer and she started zig zagging towards the dorms, only to have her legs give out when she reached the dorm doors.  
   
“Kate”, A familiar voice said, “You ok ?”  
   
Kate tried to answer, but the world just tuned out as she slipped away and fell unconscious.

* * *

 At the party Victoria came out from the bathroom looking around, only to see that Kate was nowhere to be found. She’s probably gone back to the VIP section, she thought, I mean I did take my sweet time. But Kate wasn’t there, neither was Nathan.  
   
“Anyone seen Kate or Nathan ?”, Victoria asked.  
   
“No Victoria, Kate haven’t been here since the two of you left and Nathan followed shortly after”, Dana said.  
   
Victoria ran out, probably Kate had just gone to the dorms. Victoria stormed there and looked in her own room, then she went to Kate’s room. But no one was there. She texted Kate, and Nathan, but none of them answered.  
   
Then she texted Max, but didn’t get an answer either. Not that she expected one, it was like 3 in the morning, but one could hope.  
   
Victoria was now officially miffed and a little scared. Kate would do a great many things, but she knew she wouldn’t go with Nathan, or would she ? Victoria got confused and scared and a knot formed in her stomach. Nathan and Kate, no, no, no, it can’t be, can it ? Nathan would never do that, Victoria thought. Or would he, or maybe...Of course, Kate had played her, she’d left with Nathan and she’d given Victoria a taste of her own medicine and everyone would know that she’d been played. Victoria fumed and at the same time she hurt inside. She'd opened herself to Kate and this was the reward, she'd be publicly humiliated. And if her parent's found out, oh god, Victoria didn't dare think the thought. Exhausted, sad and angry She lied down on her bed and started crying herself to sleep.

* * *

 Somewhere, a car drove into a barn. A person came out of the car and another up from a basement.  
   
“About time you got your act together. It’s not Max, but she’ll do for now”, he said as he looked at the unconscious form of Kate.  
   
“Yeah, well you know Max have been with Victoria and Kate all the time, and today she left with that Blue haired one. It's like she's never alone at anytime these days. I had hoped that she'd be at the party tonight though, but since she left with the blue haired one, had to grab Kate instead”  
   
“Well, Kate will do for now”  
   
“Do I get my turn with her when you are done ?”  
   
“Sure, you can take as many turns as you want when I am done”  
   
“Sweet”, the young man replied, “I’ll be sure to give her a special treatment so she doesn’t remember a thing that happens”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah..once again (unleashed)Kate and Victoria gets center stage. Quite possibly I've also delved into some other things that will matter later on in the story. 
> 
> I think the majority of you can also somewhat guess that something bad is going to happen......


	19. Lost Puppies

* * *

**18\. Lost puppies**

Victoria awoke, and let out a massive yawn. She spent a little time getting her bearings and then she remembered what had happened the night before. Her face turned hard with grim determination as she grinded her teeth. Kate and Nathan was gonna get it, they would never know what hit them. Victoria would pull out all the stops to get them down. Though first she needed to go to the bathroom. She could literally feel her breath and when she slid her tongue over her teeth, it felt like sandpaper, eww.

Victoria walked over to her mirror, fuck she looked like shit, her eyes still red from crying herself to sleep. Since she didn’t remove her make-up before she slept, she looked like a fucking clown too. All of this only lead to Victoria becoming even more infuriated.

She opened her closet, grabbed a fresh towel and some new underwear. When Victoria opened her door it almost flew inwards and someone fell backwards into her room. Almost like whomever it was had been leaning on the door.

Victoria was about to yell, but then she noticed who it was. It was Kate. Her clothes were torn and ripped, her face was bruised and she had blue marks everywhere, as far as Victoria could tell. Kate was clearly not fully conscious.

“Am I at a hospital ?”, Kate slurred, “He said he’d take me to a hospital”.

Victoria all but forgot her rage, something had clearly happened to Kate. Oh my god Kate, what happened to you. Victoria looked out into the hallway but no one seemed to be awake,  which really wasn’t much of a surprise after a Vortex club party. She put her arms under Kate’s shoulder and dragged her all the way into the room, grunting under the strain.

“Dammit Kate, how can you be so heavy !”, Victoria huffed out.

Kate only whimpered, clearly in pain. Victoria knew something bad had to have happened to Kate, something really fucking bad. Maybe Kate had been raped, the thought struck Victoria like lightning. Oh no, not Kate, oh god please no, let it not be true.

Victoria managed to drag Kate onto her bed and she started removing what was left of the pretty dress she had selected for Kate the night before. Victoria couldn’t help but feel helpless and small. Her emotions were a complete train wreck, and she didn’t know what to fucking think. Kate might have been raped, probably also drugged, all of this would explain why she had disappeared the night before. One thing was for fucking sure, Kate would never wish for something like this, Victoria was sure of that.

When Victoria gently had zipped down Kate’s dress and started pulling it down, she noticed Kate’s bra was badly ripped, burn marks clearly showing on Kate’s skin from someone having tugged on it hard.

“Oh Kate, what happened to you”, Victoria gently whispered as she continued removing the dress.

When she reached Kate’s nether regions she noticed the blood there, and she knew her worst fears were true, Kate had been raped for sure, she could only hope that Kate hadn’t been conscious when it happened.

Victoria gently removed the rest of the clothing and started cleaning the now naked Kate up. Her previously white towel becoming red in some spots and brown from dirt in others. Victoria had wanted to see Kate naked, to feel her, but not like this. This was hell.

Despite Victoria being as gentle as she could, Kate groaned from pain in her semi unconscious state.

“Shhh, easy Kate, I’m here now”, Victoria said in the most soothing voice she could muster as she tried to hold her sobs back.

When she were done cleaning Kate she took some of her own underwear and a loose t-shirt and put it on Kate. She made sure Kate was comfortable in her bed and pulled the covers up around her, tugging her in.

Victoria was slowly loosing her mind. Who would do such a thing to Kate, Nathan ? Victoria knew Nathan, and had known him for a long time, he couldn't do this, could he ? Victoria wasn't sure what to do, she was scared and confused, she needed help. Her first thought was to call Max. She reached for her phone, found Max's number and pressed call.

Beeep..beeeepp..beeeepp, “oh come on Max, pickup”, Victoria angrily said to the phone.

“Hellooo”, a clearly sleepy Max answered.

“Max, it’s Victoria, you have to come over now, something happened to Kate”, Victoria almost shouted into the phone.

“Huh what, I’m at Chloe’s we slept there”, Max still groggy from sleep answered, and her tired brain caught up with what Victoria had said, “what ? Kate, what happened to Kate ?”, Max was suddenly wide awake and a bit of fear was showing in her voice.

“I'm not sure, I just went to the bathroom and when I came back she was gone. I thought she had left me on purpose with Nathan, and then..then this morning she..I oh my god, this is all too real Max. You have to get here, I can’t, I can’t, just please get here Max”, Victoria rambled through the words and started crying and she couldn’t stop, as it all fully dawned on her what had happened to Kate and that one of her best friends was probably involved.

"What happened Tori ?", Max said not fully able to follow Victoria's rambling.

Victoria said something, but her crying made it impossible to understand a word.

“I can't understand what you are saying Tori, but me and Chloe will be there as fast as we can. See you in a bit, just hang on ok”, Max said her voice laced with worry and concern as she hung up. Max couldn’t stop thinking about what could've happened to Kate that would make Victoria dissolve like this. Max didn’t spend much time thinking, “Hey, Chloe”, Max semi shouted as she shook Chloe awake.

“Huh, what..lemme sleep, 5 mins more, stop it..I said stop it”

“We have to go now Chloe, Victoria called saying something have happened to Kate. She broke down crying as she did. We gotta go, now !”

“Ok, ok , hold your horses, just need a quick stretch and we can go”, Chloe yawned and stretched which made her bones crackle. They both quickly dressed and ran down the stairs.

“Hey, Chloe, where are you going ?”, David yelled from the living room.

“None of your fucking business”

“You are my business, and Max is too when she is in this house”

“Whatever, you don’t get to decide shit for me. Come on Max let’s jet”, Chloe said and pulled on Max as they ran out the door and jumped into Chloe’s truck.

Chloe started it and reversed out onto the street taking off with wheelspin leaving a huge puff of smoke behind as David came running out, yelling at her, “Chloe, we need to talk !”

Chloe’s only answer was flipping him off as the truck accelerated up the street.

Chloe sensed the tension in Max, who kept urging her to go faster while she tried to call Victoria again but she didn’t answer.

“Come on Chloe, can’t we go faster ?”

“Not unless you want me risking other people’s lives, my dad died in a traffic accident remember ?”

“I do, sorry, it’s just if something have happened to Kate”

“I know, I know. I’ll go as fast as I can Max”, Chloe said and thought, if something have happened to Kate I’ll fucking find who did it and rip them in half.

* * *

The truck raced through Arcadia bay as fast as Chloe dared to drive and they got to Blackwell in just under 15 minutes, which compared to normal traffic was pretty darn fast. Chloe threw the truck onto the handicapped spot with a screech, Max jumped out of it before it had even stopped and raced towards the dorm as fast as she could. Moments later Chloe followed in hot pursuit. They burst through the door to the dorm almost simultaneous and headed towards Victoria’s room. There wasn’t really any doubt that something was fucking wrong, since they could hear Victoria crying as they neared. They shared a look and rushed towards the door. Max knocked on the door, “Tori, it’s me and Chloe”

They heard Victoria sniff, trying to say something but nothing they could understand came out. Chloe didn’t bother waiting for Victoria to open the door so she grabbed the door handle and tried it. The door opened and the two rushed in and closed the door behind them.

“Oh Max”, Victoria exclaimed with a sob as she flew into Max’s embrace and started crying on her shoulder.

Chloe noticed Kate was in Victoria’s bed and she walked near and then she saw the bruises on Kate’s face and anger flared in her immediately.

“Victoria, what the fuck did you do ?”, Chloe shouted.

Victoria gave a jerk in Max’s arms at Chloe’s words, she was visibly shaking as she cried and sobbed.

“I want answers Victoria”, Chloe continued.

“Chloe”, Max said and gave Chloe that look.

“I don’t care Max, if she hurt Kate there’ll be hell to pay”

“Chloe, use your brain, would Kate be in Victoria’s bed if she had hurt her ?”

“I, ehmm, no probably not”, Chloe said, blushing, as she realized what an ass she just made of herself, by flying of the handle like that, “sorry Victoria”

It took a while for Victoria to calm down, Max motioned for Chloe to get over and she let Victoria slide into an embrace with Chloe which lead to more crying.

Max walked over to the bed and looked at Kate. Oh Kate, what have happened to you, she thought,as she saw the bruises and swollen areas of Kate's face and neck. She gently let her hand slide over Kate’s hair, as she said soothing things to her.

After some 10 minutes or so Victoria had calmed enough down to be able to talk to Max and Chloe.

“So Tori, what happened ?”, Max asked.

“After you left, me and Kate got ready for the party. She allowed me to dress her and give her some make-up on. She looked so beautiful”, Victoria said, as she did Max noticed something in Victoria’s eyes, a longing.

“Was that all you did Victoria ?”, Chloe interjected.

“I swear it was all 'I' did. Kate on the other hand”

“Wait what, Kate did something”, Max said with a bit of surprise in her voice.

“Yes”, Victoria looked shyly down at her feet, as she chewed her lip, “Kate kissed me”

“Wait what ?”, Chloe said, not being able to hide the disbelief in her voice.

“Trust me, I did not see it coming either”, Victoria said.

“Excuse me, but I’m having trouble believing it too”, Max said.

“Yeah, well, it happened”, Victoria replied.

“Well more must’ve happened or Kate wouldn’t be in your bed looking like that !”, Chloe said her anger starting to flare up again.

“Well, we went to the party, we danced, and maybe kissed a little more. We went to the VIP section too. Would you believe, most of them couldn’t even recognize Kate, not even Nathan”

“And then ?”, Max said.

“I had to go to the bathroom and pee, so Kate walked me there and said she’d wait for me at the bar, when I came out from the bathroom she was gone”, Victoria started sobbing a little again, “I didn’t see her again until I woke up and found her unconscious at my door”.

“I asked the others at the VIP section last night when I looked for her, they said Nathan had left about same time as me and Kate. Maybe, maybe he did this”, Victoria said and started crying again at the thought of her oldest friend having done something like this.

“I’m not sure”, Chloe said, “He’s an asshole for sure, but I’ve never seen him hit a girl before”.

“There’s a first for everything Chloe”, Max said remembering the first encounter with Nathan which had sent a shiver down her spine. There was just something not right about him.

“Max, there is more”, Victoria said, “When I found her she had bruises all over her body, and and”, as she tried to say that she thought Kate had been raped, Victoria lost it again and started sobbing, “I thsnk kwate wssaas rspfd”

“What Tori, Can’t hear you properly when you sob like this”, Max said gently.

Victoria calmed herself for a moment, “I think Kate’s been raped”, she managed to say and then she broke down again.

Max felt an anger flare up inside her she did not know she had, and she could see Chloe was ready to run out the door, find Nathan and rip him in half.

“Why that fucker, I’ll fucking find him and kill him, I’ll”, Chloe wringed her hands around an imaginary neck and started pacing up and down the floor.

"Do you know if Nathan did it Victoria ?”, Max asked.

“I don’t know, I don’t even know where he is and he didn’t answer his phone either”

“Hmm, let me try calling him”, Max said. As she took out her phone she noticed there was a few new texts there and curiosity got the better of her. Some from Warren, but she ignored those, cause he always sent meme’s and spam, there was 1 text from Nathan though.

“Hey, Nathan sent me a text last night, there is an attachment too”, Max said.

Chloe moved over to her and looked as she opened the text from Nathan, it contained a picture of Kate and Victoria.

Chloe couldn’t hold back, “Holy shit Max, look at Kate. She is gorgeous, no wonder Victoria let her kiss her”

“Chloe ! That’s not appropriate at the moment”, Max chided, but silently she agreed with Chloe, Kate looked out of this world in the picture.

In the picture Kate and Victoria were sitting on a couch holding hands, looking at each other like only people in love would. The text said, ‘Hey Max, I’m having trouble believing my eyes, Kate and Victoria seems to have hit it off. Who would’ve thought’

Well damn, Nathan could’ve been envious of Victoria and Kate and then abducted Kate and, and, and..No, that couldn’t be, why would he send Max a picture like this if he had.

“Chloe I’m not sure Nathan is the one who’s done it. I mean, if he did, why would he send me a picture like this possibly incriminating himself ?”

“He would’ve been drunk, probably high as a kite too. Drunk  and high people do stupid shit, I should know”, Chloe said with a sudden bitterness.

“Well I guess at the moment we have to watch over Victoria and Kate. We should be here for them both”

“Yes, but when they can take care of themselves, we’ll find that son of a bitch and make sure he doesn’t harm anyone else”, Chloe said with grim determination in her voice.

“I’ll shoot a text to Warren, he is bound to be somewhat helpful with that huge brain of his”, Max said.

“You sure that’s a good idea, Max ? Do we really want to tell him this ?”, Chloe said with a bit of disbelief in her voice.

“I’ll ask him to be discrete, ok”

“Ok, but if he behaves like a clingy jerk I’ll kick his ass”

“I’m sure you will, I’ll just not tell him all the details. I'll ask him to check some things, ok ?”

“Like what ?”

“Well, he is in the boys dorm and since all from the party are bound to be asleep, he can wander around undisturbed, maybe take a peek into Nathan’s room”

“Maxine Caulfield, did anyone ever tell you that you are hella devious sometimes”, Chloe said with a sliver of pride.

Max just smirked at Chloe and gave her a single wink as she sent the text to Warren, “Well I asked Warren to check Nathan's room out. See if he had any drugs or a panty collection there, anything suspicious. For now though, you and I will have to take care of these two, I don’t think we should leave either one of them alone at the moment”

Chloe nodded in agreement. As they sat down on Victoria’s couch, Chloe grabbed Max’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Max turned her head and looked into Chloe’s eyes. She saw emotions matching her own, sadness, anger and something else she wasn’t sure what was. Max wondered how the world in one moment could be so great, and the next everything would go to shit and crumble. She squeezed Chloe’s hand back and with the other she pulled Victoria so she sat between her and Chloe on the couch. They both started comforting Victoria, while they waited for Kate to come round, gently telling her that it would be alright, but both knowing that it was a lie. It would never be alright, and nothing would ever be the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry Kate.....


	20. Nothing is as it seems

* * *

**19\. Nothing is as it seems.**

Nathan woke up in his room, fully clothed and feeling like utter trash.

Hmm, what the fuck. I don’t remember shit from the party..Wait, Kate and Victoria, together. A rare smile grazed his lips as he recalled it.

Awww, fuck. I feel like shit and what’s this fucking taste in my mouth. What the fuck did I drink last night to feel like this.

Nathan tried to get out of bed, but his legs was somewhat uncooperative, and he fell to his knees, hard.

“OWWWWWWW, FUCK”, he yelled loudly.

“What the fucking hell did I take last night to get like this”, he muttered to himself.

He sat there for a bit absorbing the pain in his knees. Then he tried to get up again this time with a better result. He groaned loudly as his head started pounding as if someone was using it as an anvil.

He took some pills from his table and swallowed them, thank god for Frank Bowers, the guy had a pill for everything. This one should take care of this headache in a jiffy.

When I feel a little better I should go see Victoria, I need all the details about her and Kate. I’ll just blunder a little more and when I wake the pill have done it’s magic and I can go talk to Victoria, he thought to himself as he slowly nodded off again.

As Nathan fell asleep the door handle slowly started moving, and after a little the door was slowly opened inwards, and Warren peeked his head through the crack. The coast was clear more or less. Nathan was sound asleep and Warren knew how to sneak like a ninja, he wasn’t clumsy like Max. Warren somewhat prided himself on his ninja like stealth. He had practiced it for years, a skill that was very useful when you were the school nerd. To hide and disappear in plain sight. Warren also somewhat hoped that him doing this would get him closer to Max, he wouldn’t do a major favor like this to just anyone. So Max had better feel damn special about it, and maybe she’d go ape with him if he ever found the courage to ask her.

Warren snuck into Nathan’s room, he watched the sleeping boy on his bed for a bit. It would be so easy to beat the living shit out of him when he was like this, asleep and helpless. If anyone deserved a good beating it was certainly Nathan. But then again, Nathan was a Prescott and if he touched him...well bad things would happen for sure and Warren didn’t want that.

Warren wasn’t entirely sure what he was looking for, Max had said to look for clues, like bloody clothes, drugs or similar. Warren had no idea what she would use the clues for, but she wouldn’t have asked him to do this if it wasn’t important.

Warren shuffled over to Nathan’s desk, looking at his fancy laptop. Damm that thing must’ve cost like 2000$..at least. Warren felt a sting of envy, Nathan probably didn’t even use the fucking thing.

Warren pressed the space button and it’s screen blinked to life..well what do you know, Nathan hadn’t locked his pc. Warren looked a bit around on the laptop but found nothing of note on it. He did check out Nathan’s Facebook page, though there honestly wasn’t much on it. For some obscure reason Warren reminded himself that he needed to give Max his super secret USB stick with all the good movies on. Not really something one would do in a situation like this, but Warren was well..weird at times.

Warren saw Nathan’s camera on the small table near the bed, worth a look, he thought.

He regretted it instantly when he turned it on and looked at the photos. Holy fuck, what kinda creep takes photos of dead and decaying animals. Warren shrugged, and flipped through the photos. They were all kinda disturbing, but he had to admit that Nathan had quite a bit of talent. The composition and shadows in the photos made them stand out, so that death seemed both disturbing and beautiful in its own way. Warren put the camera back on the table, but as he did, he accidently pushed an ashtray onto the floor and it gave a loud clatter.

Nathan moved in his bed and grunted loudly, Warren got a bit of a jump scare and looked wide eyed at Nathan, who was thankfully still asleep. Phew, I better get out while I still can, Warren thought and swiftly moved through the room and out the door. As he closed it slowly and silently, he failed to notice that his USB stick had fallen out of his pocket and rolled under Nathan’s bed.

As Warren walked down the hallway in the boys dorm he texted Max.

Warren : Sorry Max, I found nothing of importance in Nathan’s room. Only some disturbing pictures of dead animals on his camera, but nothing incriminating.

Max : Damn, well thanks anyway. We’ll talk later ;-)

Warren : Definitely, you owe me big time :-)

“Ok, Warren found nothing”, Max whispered to Chloe. Thankfully Victoria had fallen asleep, but they still whispered because they didn’t want to wake her or Kate.

“Ok, what do we do now then ?”, Chloe asked.

“I don’t know, see what we can figure out on our own I guess”

“Alright, time for some proper detective work then my dear Watson”, Chloe said trying to imitate Sherlock Holmes.

“OMG Chloeee”, Max giggled, “that’s gotta be the worst imitation yet and we kinda gotta be quiet cause of these two sleeping beauties here”, she said as she pointed at Kate and Victoria.

“Be wavy wavy quiet, I’m hunting wabbits”, Chloe continued.

“Chloeeee”, Max groaned.

“Ok, ok, I’ll be serious now”, Chloe said, but her eyes was glinting with mischief as her hands moved forward and she started tickling Max.

“Chloe, really, stop..stop it”, Max tried to keep it as a whisper but it was nigh impossible because Chloe knew all her weak spots. So Max decided to go on the offensive and tickle Chloe in return, two could play this game. Max hit all the right areas and Chloe became a blubbering giggling mess.

“OMG, Max, stop, I surrender, I surrender”

“You’ll behave now, and sit quietly ?”

“Yes, I swear”

"Pinky swear ?"

Chloe offered up her pinky, "Pinky swear"

The two of them crawled back onto Victoria’s couch and silently watched Victoria and Kate sleep. There was something so peaceful about watching them, and both Chloe and Max found themselves nodding off.

Around the same time Nathan woke up again. He stretched and yawned as he did. Damn those pills were magic, no headache anymore. He got out of bed and looked around for his phone and found it on the table near his bed.

Hmm, wtf, 28 missed calls from Victoria, and 45 texts.

Nathan started reading the texts from Victoria and his face changed with every new message he read. Until the last one and he had to sit down.

What the fuck did I do last night, he thought to himself. Last thing I remember I was standing with Kate in the bar and she felt sick and wanted to go home.

And now all these messages from Victoria. The first ones were ok, sorta normal, have you seen Kate. But the last few ones were fucked, especially the last one made Nathan feel like crying.

Victoria was a fucking bastard to most people, well not so much recently, she really had changed a lot in that regard. But anyway, Victoria were never really mean to him, they were friends. Well, in truth Victoria was pretty much his only friend. So he had tried to be nice when she asked him to be, and he felt he really had changed somewhat. So he had no idea what had triggered this behaviour in Victoria. He looked at the last message for the third or fourth time.

I’ll never talk with you again, I hate you, I hate you, you fucking ass hole. How could you do this to me !

Nathan felt bad, like he had done something so bad, that he had lost the only person he truly could call friend.

Nathan crawled back into his bed and curled himself into a ball, and started having one of his panic attacks.

If only he could remember what he had done, if only he hadn’t been so drunk or high or whatever he was last night. Nathan was legitimately all alone now, no friends, no one. Nobody would hear him sobbing and want to help him any more when he had these panic attacks. No one would give him his headset and turn on the whales, because their song was the only thing that calmed him. Nathan felt lost like never before, and more than anything else he was really, really confused about what the hell was going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of the weekend, so I've given you two chapters today...Don't you all feel lucky ? ;-)


	21. Hell hath no fury

* * *

**20\. Hell hath no fury**

Day was becoming afternoon, afternoon became evening. Chloe and Max remained in Victoria’s room, watching over Victoria and Kate. They knew that they eventually had to leave. Though for now, they had to watch these 2, and make sure they wouldn’t do anything stupid. Like try to kill Nathan when they woke up, kill themselves or something else along those lines.

“Max what are we gonna do when they wake up ?”

“I don’t know Chloe. How are we even gonna tell Kate what happened to her ?”, Max said as she sighed and moved her head to look into Chloe’s eyes.

“Yeah, I hear you Max”, Chloe said, not really knowing an answer or what else to say.

“It’s like the whole fucking world just decided to vomit on us, just to fuck us over”, Max said with a hint of anger in her voice.

“Technically, it’s not fucking us over at the moment, more like Victoria and Kate are getting fucked over”, Chloe stated and gave Max’s hand a squeeze.

Max just looked at her with the, really Chloe, look and was about to scold her a bit, when someone knocked on the door and they both got startled.

“Tori, you in there ? I have to talk to you, it’s important”

“I’ll get it”, Max said, "I know the voice, it's Taylor", Max got up and went to open the door.

As she opened the door, she saw Taylor stand outside mumbling to herself, “Fuck...fuck, how am I gonna tell this to Tori without her beating me to death. You can do it Tay, you can do it, just be confident, you can do it”, Taylor was clearly trying to give herself a pep talk.

“Hi Tay”, Max said with a smile, but she was unsure if it was ok for her to use Taylor's nick name.

Taylor looked up in surprise, “Oh, it’s you Max. I mean not that that’s bad, I just kinda hoped Tori would be there and I...”, Taylor was rambling, clearly nervous and unsure what to do, when she saw it wasn't Victoria that answered the door. Though truth be told, she probably would've been even more nervous had it been Victoria that had opened it.

“What do you want Tay ?”, Max calmly said and took Taylor's hand when she noticed Taylor was pretty nervous.

“I need to speak with Tori, it’s really important. Courtney have done something bad, really, really bad”

Max curiously asked, “Ooookk..Like ?”

“Just let me in, please, I need to tell Tori”

“Of course, come on in. Victoria is sleeping though”, Max said and gestured to the clearly flustered Taylor. She moved into the room and noticed Kate and Victoria in bed together.

“Wait, did something happen that I don’t know about ?”, Taylor asked.

“Yeah, you could say that”, Chloe said and rose from the couch.

“What, why are you here too, and what happened ?”, Taylor asked, confusion and curiosity showing in her voice.

Chloe gave a look to Max, who in turn nodded that it was ok.

“No easy way to say this Taylor, Kate was raped last night and Victoria found her this morning”, Chloe bluntly said, not being one to sugarcoat things.

Taylor’s face formed something that can only be described as a look of utter shock, then fear and sadness, then shock again.

“Oh my god”, Taylor blurted out and put her hand in front of her mouth. Max noticed that she was about to cry and put an arm around her shoulder pulling her closer.

“Who would even do such a thing to Kate, she is like the sweetest thing on the planet”, Taylor said with tears in her eyes, “Fuck, that makes what I have to tell Tori even worse. Tori is gonna murder Courtney for this”

“For what ?”, Chloe said.

“Well I guess you both know a little about what happened at the Party last night with Tori and Kate”, Taylor said.

“We heard bits and pieces but we haven’t gotten the full picture to be honest. We were kinda hanging out at Chloe's place last night, so we only know what Victoria told us this morning”, Max said.

“Well, Tori’s been neglecting me and Courtney after she started seeing you and Kate”, Taylor nervously said.

Max knew this was true, Victoria had said so herself.

“So me and Courtney got jealous, because we were suppose to be her best friends, well at least me, Courtney not so much”

“And ??”, Chloe asked.

“Well Victoria got angry at Courtney and said something she shouldn’t have. Courtney got so angry. I’ve never seen her angry like that, but considering what Victoria said, I understand it. Anyway, Courtney recorded Victoria and Kate kissing last night in the VIP section, and she’s kinda made a website where she posted it on. Kateskiss.com. She also posted the link to it on facebook”

“And you didn’t fucking stop her ?”, Chloe said her temper getting the better of her, she grabbed Taylor’s shirt and pushed her up against the wall, “Do you even fucking know what this would do to Kate, her fucking family is devout Christians, they’d disown her”

“I know, I know. And if you think it'll be bad for Kate, then that's nothing compared to what it might do to Victoria"

"What could they possibly do that's worse than what would happen to Kate ?", Chloe angrily said.

"Victoria’s parents are homophobes and not just the 'mild' kind. So imagine what they’ll do to Victoria if they find out. Victoria was only allowed to go here if she promised not to follow her 'desires'. That's why Nathan have doubled as her boyfriend from time to time to keep them off her back”, Taylor said with clear desperation in her voice, ”When I realized what Courtney was about to do, I tried to stop her, I really did, but Courtney threw me out of her room and locked the door. I just, I just wanted to get back at Victoria for ditching me, but I knew it was wrong using Kate to do it and especially in this way because I knew it would hurt them both”, Taylor broke down and began sobbing, “Oh fuck, what have we done. We are fucking monsters”

Max knew that Taylor wasn’t bad, just misguided and jealous. Max knew what jealousy could make you do. She moved over towards Chloe and managed to get her to let go of Taylor.

“Taylor, well fix this, don’t worry”, Max tried to console.

Taylor slowly slid down the wall until she was sitting on her ass with her hands covering her face, as her tears started to fall.

“How ? It’s already been posted, and Courtney sure as hell won't take it down. She is hellbent on hurting Tori”, Taylor managed to get out while she sobbed.

There was a noise from the bed and then, “Hurting who ?”, Victoria groggily said as she woke up.

Taylor quickly got up and moved past Max and Chloe, before they could even think to stop her. Taylor was next to Victoria in an instant, embracing her in a hug, “I’m so sorry Tori, we shouldn’t have done what we did. But Courtney went ahead and now I don’t know how to fix it”

“Sorry for what ? Fix what ?”, Tori said obviously completely unaware of anything that Courtney had done while she was sleeping.

Taylor started crying and sobbing again, she tried to talk but everything was muddled from her sobbing.

Victoria looked at Max, “What is this Max ? What the hell is going on ?”

“I’ll tell you in a little, just comfort your friend, we both know Tay is one of them, right ?”

“Right”, Victoria said and hugged Taylor, starting to comfort her, “What’s put you in this state Tay?”. And then Victoria remembered the night before, and the morning and she looked to Max, “Does she know ?”

“Yeah, she knows Tori, we told her a few minutes earlier”

“Oh”

Victoria pulled Taylor to the couch and after a bit Taylor had calmed down.

“I’m so sorry Tori, but Courtney’s gone ahead and done something incredibly stupid. I tried to stop her, but I couldn’t”

“Like what ?”, Victoria’s voice rang out, not even trying to hide her new found dislike for Courtney. Although Victoria knew she had said something more or less unforgivable last night to Courtney, she had really never like her before that either.

“She posted a video of you and Kate kissing in the VIP section”, Taylor said and looked down at her feet, “I’m sorry Tori, I should’ve stopped her”

Victoria wasn’t fully awake yet, so it didn’t fully hit her right away what Taylor had just said, “Oh, that’s ok I guess. We probably didn’t want it to get out like that, bu....”, And then it hit her like a fucking hammer. Victoria’s face adopted a look of utter shock and she froze. Kate had been raped the night before. Kate had been fucking raped and that bitch Courtney had posted a vid of her and Kate kissing. If anyone fucking saw this vid, and, fuck, if Kate’s family saw the vid, Kate would be ruined. Jesus. If my parent’s sees the vid, Victoria thought as her eyes went wide.

“I’m. Going. To. Fucking. Murder. The cunt”, Victoria hissed out, “One thing is that she wants to hurt me. But Kate, Kate is the sweetest thing in the whole fucking world. Does Courtney have ANY fucking idea what this will do to her”. Victoria seethed and her eyes were full of rage.

Taylor saw it and all she could was say, “I’m sorry, Tori, I couldn’t stop her”

“You sure ? You could’ve fucking smashed her phone, punched her in the face or tied her fucking ass to her bed”, Victoria raged at Taylor who was visibly shaking from fear, “If you had tried just an ounce harder, maybe you could’ve done it”

Max gave Chloe a push, and winked in the direction of Taylor and Victoria. Chloe understood her intentions and stepped in before Victoria physically took her anger out on Taylor. Chloe grabbed Victoria and forcibly pulled her away from Taylor.

“Let me go you blue haired bitch, I want to kill that whore”, Victoria seethed.

“Easy Tori, if you don’t calm down you’ll wake up sleeping beauty over there. She doesn’t need this right now”, Chloe said more calm than she thought herself capable of considering the situation.

Victoria punched at Chloe, but Chloe was much stronger than her. After a bit Victoria lost her power and calmed down. When she did she fell limp in Chloe’s grip and started crying, “Why is this happening ? What kind of world does this ?”, she wailed, “I just thought I found happiness and then all of this happens. I just want everything to go back to what it was before. Then no one would be hurt, Kate would be ok. She wouldn’t know about me and her, but she’d be ok”

“Would you be ok ?”, Chloe simply said, at those words Victoria buried her head in Chloe’s chest and cried even harder. Despite Chloe being a hardass, even she couldn’t hold back when she felt Victoria tremble in her arms. The way Victoria cried reminded Chloe of how she herself had cried when her dad had died, so Chloe cried too.

Max and Taylor were also crying, everything was hitting these girls at once. Their emotions were a mess. Everything was a mess. The world had given them a moment of peace, and then it had dumped a giant load of crap right on their heads.

The room was eerily silent, except for the four girls crying.

How on earth are we gonna fix this, Max thought. Victoria and Kate will need someone to watch over them. Kate, because she might be suicidal finding out she was raped or if her family finds that video. Victoria because she might go on a rampage and actually kill Courtney. And what about Nathan, we have to catch him in the act or we’ll have no proof of anything.

Fuck this crappy fucking shit. Why can’t the world just for fucking once give us a break.

“Why is everyone crying”, it came from Victoria’s bed.  
   
The entire room went silent, and all eyes turned to Kate, who had woken up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even if Chloe is a hard ass, she sure spends a lot of time Crying in this story of mine....


	22. Confessions of an angel

* * *

**21\. Confessions of an angel**

“Why are you all crying ? “, Kate asked again.

“Ohh Kate”, Victoria stuttered, as she pretty much flew to her bed and gave Kate a hug, tears still present in her eyes.

Kate winched in pain, “Ow, I don’t remember your hugs being painful Tori”

Victoria quickly loosened her grip, “Sorry Kate”. Victoria had momentarily forgotten what Kate had gone through the night before, she was just so happy to hear her voice.

“So ?”, Kate asked, “Are you going to tell me what’s going on ? And why are we all in Tori’s room ?”

Max looked at Victoria and then at Chloe, none of them said anything. Really, so it’s me..as usual.

“Kate, do you remember anything from last night ?”, Max asked.

All of them could see Kate was thinking to herself, and as she did her smile grew wide. She was clearly remembering something she liked.

“Penny for your thoughts Kate”, Chloe said.

Kate blushed and was suddenly flustered, “I remember being here, on the floor, I think I kissed Tori...A lot”

Victoria looked at her and blushed a little too at the memory, “Yeah you did”.

“And I remember going to the party with you, dancing with you", Kate smiled dreamily from of the memory, "Later in the VIP section I kissed you in front of everyone. Then the bar waiting for you, chatting with Nathan and then...”

“And then ?”, Taylor said.

“Then it’s all black until now. I can’t remember anything else”

The four other girls looked at each other, in doubt if they should tell Kate what had happened during her blackout and some of the other shit that had gone down. Max looked to Victoria, who in turn nodded at her.

“So Kate, we have something to tell you, it’s bad”, Max said.

“How bad ?”, Kate asked.

"On a scale from 1-10, it's a solid 11", Max said.

"Oh", Kate said, not sure she even wanted to hear it.

“You probably noticed that you are hurting a little”, Max continued.

"Yeah, actually I hurt everywhere”, Kate said as she looked down herself and noticed the bruises and blue marks, “What happened to me ?”, Kate said with visible fear in hear voice.

“We don’t know exactly what happened, but we are pretty sure that you were..that you were”, Max stumbled over the words, she couldn’t get them out of her mouth, she couldn’t hurt Kate like that, Chloe saw the amount of emotion on Max’s face and said it instead.

“We think you were drugged and raped Kate, and we think Nathan did it”, Chloe said.

“W-What ?”, Kate said tears starting to form in her eyes from the shock alone, “B-but why ? I thought Nathan was our friend and he was so nice and sweet when he talked with me as I waited for you Tori. Why would he do such a thing ?”

“I don’t know Kate, to be honest I’m not even sure Nathan would do it”, Victoria said, “I’m not sure he’s capable of it because he is...”

“Oh fuck you Tori”, Chloe interjected, “We both know it’s that scumbag”

“I-I’m not sure”, Victoria said, “There’s a lot about him none of you know, he’s been my best friend since I was 9 years old and he’s never treated any girls bad or done something like this”.

“Oh yeah, well, there is a first time for everything. The clues we have so far all point at him don’t they. He goes to the bar with Kate, he has a drink with Kate, he disappears same time as Kate....Who else could it be ?”

“I don’t know, I just..I just don’t think it’s him..Not yet, we have to find sure proof that it’s him and then we can go to the police, otherwise it’ll just be swept under the rug, his dad will make sure of that”

Kate had in all of this leaned herself into Victoria’s chest, as she silently cried. Victoria had wrapped her arms around her almost forming a cocoon around her.

“So..so you tell me we can’t do anything about this ?”, Kate sniffled into Victoria’s expensive shirt.

“Legally we probably can’t do shit at the moment”, Chloe said, “But I can go and smash that motherfuckers face in”

“Chloe !”, Max said angrily, “And what would I do when you go to jail then ?”

“I-I...Fuck, me and my temper”, Chloe said looking to the floor avoiding Max’s eyes.

“Kate there is something else too”, Taylor said, as she decided that it might as well all come out now, “Courtney posted a video online of you and Tori Kissing. I tried to stop her, but I couldn’t. We both know she is angry, but I never thought..I never thought she'd go this far”

“Oh come on Taylor. You heard what I said last night. You know damn well that she has every reason to want to put every nail she can find in my coffin”, Victoria said.

Kate just looked out at them all, the look in her eyes, it was the same as the look a deer have right before it’s being hit by a semi, “W-what ? Why would she do that ?”

“To hurt me”, Victoria said, as she played with Kate’s beautiful hair, “To hurt me”

“But, what about me ?”, Kate said, “Doesn’t she even care who else she might hurt, doesn’t she know that if my church or my parents see this I can lose them completely, I might be disowned or worse”

“I know”, Victoria said, “But we’ll get her back”

“No”, Kate said firmly to everyone's surprise, “We won’t. When someone hits you, hitting them back won’t solve anything. It’ll just make the problem bigger”

“I’m sorry Kate, but I’m not a turn the other cheek type”, Victoria said, “I want revenge on that bitch”

“No Tori, please don’t”, Kate said, “I know the feelings that boil inside you, I used to have them too when I was younger. But you can’t let them rule you, it only brings destruction to you if you do”

“You want me to just sit here and do nothing, just let her get away with it ?”

“She’s not getting away with it Tori. What she’s done will come back to haunt her, I promise you”, Kate said as she gently cupped Victoria’s cheeks and looked into her eyes.

“But how do you know Kate, it might not”, Victoria said.

Kate just looked up at her and started talking, “Ok, I’ll tell something, but you all have to swear that it goes no further than this room”

The girls looked at each other and with one voice they said, “We swear, nothing we hear here, will leave this room”

Kate nodded at them, and started talking, “I'm going to tell you something very few other people know. You see, I wasn’t always the sweet and nice person you know me as”, Kate began, but was quickly interrupted by Chloe.

“For real, you hella don’t strike me as the rebellious type Kate”

“Shush Chloe, don’t interrupt her”, Max scolded Chloe.

“Sorry, sorry”, Chloe put her hands up in defeat.

“I used to be a bit of a destructive kid”, Kate said, “My dad used to call me his little tornado”

Victoria looked at Kate and held her a little tighter, so my Kate wasn’t always so sweet and innocent like she is now, she thought and blew some of Kate’s hair away from her nose.

“Anyway, one time in school, there was this kid picking on my sister. I mean a lot, he was being a bully and an..an aa”

“Ass hole”, Chloe said.

“Yes, that. So I kinda jumped him and punched him”

“Way to go Kate”, Chloe blurted out.

“No”, Kate said, “Not, way to go, I didn’t stop punching him. I kept punching him until the teachers came running and pulled me off him. He almost died. I had broken his nose, knocked 6 or 7 of his teeth out, broken his jaw in 6 places and he almost choked on his own blood”

They all looked at her in utter surprise, so Kate had a not so squeaky clean past and a violent streak too.

“But that wasn’t the worst. A broken bone will heal, and wounds will mend. But when your brain get’s hurt, it doesn’t heal like that. He had a couple of bleedings in his brain as a result of me beating him. He’s never fully recovered from it and he still has the mind of someone in the 3’rd grade as a result of it”, Kate said with an unmistakable sadness in her voice.

“Wow Kate”, Taylor said, “That kinda does explain a lot about you”

“How so ?”, Kate said.

“Well, the way you always try to help everyone, even those who are mean to you”, Taylor said, “You are trying to atone for your wrong doing aren’t you ?”

“I guess I am. I mean after it had happened I swore I’d never hit anyone ever again, I went to anger management and therapy to fix me”, Kate said, “But how can you fix something that can’t be fixed ?”

“What do you mean”, Victoria said to Kate.

“That boy, he’ll never be ok again. It’s done and it can’t be fixed. I have to live with the knowledge that I caused that. I caused it by acting without thinking, by acting out of revenge”

“Oh”, Victoria said, “So you trying to tell me, that if I take revenge on Courtney, it’ll come back and bite me in the ass”

“Yes”

“I see, so we just lean back and do nothing ?”

“Yes”

“How about the fucker that raped you, we sit back and do nothing about that too ?”, Chloe said.

Kate whipped her head in the direction of Chloe, “No, but we shouldn’t act out of anger or revenge. We should find proof, get the police on it and let the law exact justice. Anyway, my family can never know about me being raped”

“Why not, you don’t want them to help you or comfort you ?”, Max said.

“They won’t comfort me, well my dad and sisters might. But my mother won’t, she’ll probably claim I was asking for it, especially if she sees that video Courtney posted”

“So we should just find this out on our own ?”, Taylor said.

“I don’t think we have a choice”, Kate said, “But I know you’ll all help, so it’s ok. My bruises will heal, and since I can’t remember being raped, it might as well not have happened to me”

“Kate, how can you be so chill about this ?”, Chloe said, “You were fucking raped, that fucker deserves to die”

“I'm not chill at all, trust me. I just don't know what to believe, since I can't remember anything of it. It's just one big black spot in my brain. But regardless we can't and shouldn’t do anything about it, until we know exactly who did it”, Kate said, “anyway I’m hurting a lot and I don’t feel so good, I think I would like to sleep some more”

“Anything you want that we need to fetch you", Taylor asked.

"No, I just want to sleep", Kate said.

"Ok then, we’ll talk some tomorrow Kate ”, Max said.

“Yeah, we will”, Kate said, "I think I'll want to talk to someone when I wake up"

Max, Victoria, Taylor and Chloe all got up and was about to walk out, when Kate said, “You’re not staying with me Tori ?”

Victoria turned around slightly flustered, “I just thought, I mean, you’ve just been, and..I mean I..”

“I don’t think I can fall asleep without you, I’d just lay awake thinking about all of these things I’ve just been told. Please don’t leave Tori, I need you here”

“I won’t, I swear Kate, I'll never leave you again”, Victoria said as she walked back over to the bed, stripped down to panties and a t-shirt and crawled under the covers and Joined Kate.

“Good night you two”, the other girls said as they walked out of the door and closed it.

“Good night”, Victoria and Kate said as the door closed.

“Tori ?”

“Yes Kate”

“Could you hold me, I need to feel you are here, that I'm not alone in the dark”

Victoria put her arms around Kate and crept closer to her until she felt her own body flush against Kate and her hair in her face.

Kate sniffled a little, “You know, yesterday I realized that I’ve had a crush on you since the first day I saw you Tori, even when you bullied me I couldn’t stop liking you”

Victoria was about to say something, but decided not to, she just held Kate a little tighter.

“And then, you somehow changed, at first I thought it was because you liked Max. But then I realized it was because you wanted to change, that who you were wasn’t you”

Kate felt Victoria’s breath tickle the hairs in her neck, and she giggled a little.

“Even with all this stuff happening to me Tori, I still want you near me. With your arms around me, I feel safe”

“Kate, I don’t deserve you”, Victoria began.

“You got that wrong Tori, it’s me that doesn’t deserve you”, Kate said.

Victoria responded by planting a kiss on top of Kate’s head, “My bun bun, you deserve everything I can give you and then some”

The two girls stayed close together in the bed, Victoria drifted off and fell asleep, Kate was still awake though. She just laid there with Victoria’s arms around her enjoying the warmth. Eventually Kate twisted herself around so she could see Victoria’s face. She looked so peaceful when she slept, all the hard edges of her face weren’t there when she slept. Kate placed a kiss on Victoria’s Forehead as she gently let her hand move through Victoria’s hair, “I love you Tori. No matter what happens, as long as you are here with me, everything is ok”, Kate whispered just before she entered the world of dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Kate is not breaking apart knowing all this...Because Kate is a fighter..Our little bun bun is now a tornado !!!! ;-)
> 
> Nothing makes sense in this world anymore..it's gonna get wilder !!! ;-)


	23. Someone needs to pay

* * *

**22\. Someone needs to pay**

Chloe, Max and Taylor stood outside Victoria’s room.

“If you want we can go to my room and figure things out”, Taylor said.

“I guess”, Chloe said, looking at Max.

“Yeah, sure. Why not”, Max said.

So Taylor led the way to her room, and with an exaggerated motion bid them welcome to her humble abode.

“Holy shit Taylor”, Chloe said as she tried to pick her jaw up from the floor.

“Yeah Taylor this is ridiculous”, Max said with a grin.

“What, I like to dress up!”, Taylor said.

“No shit, this is like a fashion show dressing room”, Chloe said.

“Sure is. It’s my dream you know, to become a model”

“Hmpff, you must’ve been happy Rachel disappeared then”, Chloe huffed out.

“Not really. I don’t think many knew it, but she was one of my best friends. We shared the same dream of modelling, so we helped each other out on the latest fashion things and such”

“Don’t remember you ever helping me trying to find her”, Chloe huffed out, not really able to hide her emotions.

“I tried to ask you, but you called me a bitch and that you didn’t need help from one of Victoria’s slaves. But I guess you forgot that”, Taylor said with a slight bitterness in her voice.

Chloe looked down at her feet when she remembered, that she had indeed said those exact words to Taylor. She tried to stammer out an apology, something she seemed to be doing a lot lately, “Shit, yeah...I’m..I’m sorry Taylor, I just..I wasn’t..it was”

“Relax, I get it. I wasn’t exactly a saint towards you either”.

“Yeah, well..let’s leave the past where it is then..in the past”

“I’m in favor of that for sure”, Taylor said.

Max was thankful that it seemed like Chloe and Taylor was making peace, so she figured she could revisit the whole fashion thing, “So, how did you get all this stuff ?”

“Believe it or not, me and Rachel went to a lot of thrift shops to get most of it. It’s insane how many good finds we got in those”, Taylor said, “Oh and, don’t tell Tori, she thinks most of this is designer stuff”, Taylor said with a smile and a little laugh.

“Really, she doesn’t know ?”, Chloe said with an amused smile on her face.

“Nope, she hasn’t got a clue. Don’t tell anyone this, but I’m actually the one with the fashion sense in our little group. I taught Victoria everything she knows about fashion”, Taylor said secretively.

“So you mean we can’t go out and tell everyone about Victoria being clueless”, Chloe said looking quite disappointed. Which in turn lead to Max elbowing her hard and giving her that look.

“Ow ! Sorry, we won’t tell a living soul. Promise, scouts honor and all that”, Chloe solemnly said.

The three girls spent a bit more talking about Taylor’s fashion dreams and looking at her clothes collection, which was a lot bigger than Victoria’s and much more diverse. They had all needed this, a little time to take their minds of the more pressing matters. But eventually they had to turn back to the elephant in the room and get on with it.

“So, how are we gonna do this ?”, Max began, “All we have to go after is a suspicion that Nathan is the culprit”

“Can’t we try to sneak into his room and see if there is stuff there ?”, Taylor said.

“We already had Warren help us see if there was something, but he found nothing”, Max said.

“Yeah, or so he says. But Warren is a geek, you think he checked the garbage can in Nathan’s room ?”, Chloe said.

“Why would he check the garbage ?”, Taylor asked.

“Well, if Nathan had used a substance to drug Kate with he’d have to have gotten it from somewhere, so maybe there is a bag, a note, something that he threw to his trash that we can use”, Chloe said.

“That makes a surprising amount of sense”, Taylor and Max said at the same time, smiling widely at Chloe.

“Hey, I’m not stupid you know ! I just didn’t care too much about school when you weren’t there Max”, Chloe said pouting.

“Oh, that’s so not cute Chloe, giving up on school because I’m not there”, Max said sternly.

“Yeah, well. Can’t change it”, Chloe said angrily.

“Anyway”, Taylor said trying to make the tone change, “Let’s go check out Nathan’s room then”

“We’ll have to wait until we know he isn’t in there”, Chloe said, “Can’t just bust his door open and walk in and go through his trash”

“Wow, look at you Chloe, acting all responsible and stuff...what happened to the girl going headfirst into stuff without even thinking”, Max said and wiggled her eyebrows at Chloe.

“Pfft”, was all Chloe said to that.

“I think I have some clothes we might use”, Taylor said, “Me and Rachel found them one day and couldn’t resist buying them for shits and giggles”

Taylor started going through some of her boxes, then moved on to her closet, “Where the fuck are they, I’m sure they were here”, she mumbled to herself as she looked. “AHA, here they are”, She exclaimed when she found what she was looking for. She turned around proudly and showed what she had found to them.

“O M G !”, Chloe said excitedly, “Are those like ninja suits ?”

“I’m not sure, but something like that I guess. They’ll work, don’t you think”, Taylor said.

“Hmm, won’t we look like criminals if we wear these ?”, Max commented.

“Ohhh come on, we’ll look hella awesome in these, please Ninja Max”, Chloe pleaded and did her best version of big puppy dog eyes, knowing very well that Max more or less always had given in when she did that in the past.

“Are you kidding me with those eyes Chloe. OK, let’s do it”, Max said throwing her arms up in defeat.

“You’re the best Super Max”, Chloe said and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, which made Max blush.

“Wait a minute, are you two ?”, Taylor started.

Max quickly shut her down before she went any further, “Yes, we are, but it’s not like official yet, so now you are one of three people that know and we'd like to keep it like that”

“So like with Tori and Kate, I can’t tell anyone about it...damn this sucks. I have the best gossip ever and I can’t tell anyone about it”, Taylor pouted.

They all started changing, and after a bit of muddling about they all had the ‘ninja’ suits on.

“We are like totally ninja’s now”, Chloe said.

“We are like powerpuff girls as ninja’s”,Taylor said.

“We are gonna be in so much trouble if the campus guards catches us”, Max mentioned with a sigh.

Chloe looked at max, “Don’t be such a spoil sport Max, we’re ninja’s now, they won’t catch us”

“Well maybe not you, but you know how clumsy I am”, Max said looking down at her feet.

“Come on, let’s move and stake out the boys dorm, so we can see if Nathan leaves and then enter his room to look for stuff when he isn’t there”, Taylor said.

The other two nodded, and Taylor opened her door ajar to see if anyone was there. She gave the all clear and the girls snuck out. They snuck from shadow to shadow in true ninja like fashion. Max only stumbled once and would’ve fallen flat on her face had Chloe not caught her. To Max's credit she did manage to stay silent when she almost fell. 

They found a bush not to far away from the window to Nathan’s room, and decided to hide there and wait to see if he left his room.

As they sat there, they heard something from behind, they turned around and saw Courtney walking down the lit path towards the school mumbling to herself.

“I’ll show that bitch, she is going to regret pushing me away. I’ll get her and those two other cows if it’s the last thing I do”, Courtney mumbled as she walked past the bush they were hiding in.

Behind Courtney’s shoulders floated some sort of darkness, a shade, it had some sort of tendrils in her ears. As she passed with it it was almost as if they could hear silent whispers in the air, " _You are better than them. You must show them. They are only in the way. They are in the way, remove them_ "

“Tell me I was not the only one that saw that”, Taylor whispered.

“What”, Max whispered.

“That shade on her shoulders, with those things in her ears”, Taylor said.

Max and Chloe looked at each other, “You see such things?”

“It’s the first time I do”, Taylor said, “Wait you saw it too ?”

“Yeah, but it’s the first time we see something like that”, Max said, “We have been seeing a Doe thing ever since we were kids”

“Hmm”, Taylor said, “So maybe Courtney isn’t acting all on her own”

“Maybe. Or maybe it’s amplifying the bad emotions in her, that are hiding under the surface already”, Max said thinking aloud.

“Makes sense. Courtney normally wouldn’t go as far as she did with that vid. But she’d definitely be thinking about it”, Taylor said, "Well actually, considering what Tori said the other night, Courtney might actually do such things no matter what".

"What did Tori say", Max asked curiously.

"That Courtney had been put to a mental institution, twice, for psychotic behaviour"

"Wow, how can she even be at the school ? Does she even get medication ?", Max wondered.

"I don't know. All I've seen is that she's become increasingly hostile since you an Kate got into the picture", Taylor said, "Before that she was just someone who followed Victoria, not hurting anyone"

“Pff, she is a bitch and you know it, well you were actually a bitch too”, Chloe said with no remorse in her voice.

“I hate to break it to you Taylor, but I’m with Chloe here”, Max said.

Before Taylor could answer the light in Nathan’s room was turned off and after a bit they heard him walk by them mumbling about needing to go get some shit from Frank. Taylor and Max both held onto Chloe, just in case she decided to jump Nathan and punch the snot out of him.

When he had passed by and disappeared to the parking lot, Max asked, “Who is Frank ?”

“He is the biggest drug dealer in town”, Chloe whispered back.

“Oh, makes sense that Nathan goes to see him”, Max said.

“How so ?”, Taylor said.

Chloe, having picked up on Max’s train of thought, answered Taylor’s question, “Hello Taylor, he drugs girls and rapes them, he needs his date rape drugs from someone right”

“Ohh..OHHHH”, Taylor exclaimed loudly.

“SHHH, Taylor for fucks sake, you are being too loud. We’ll get caught if you can’t zip it”, Max said.

Taylor but her hand up in front of her mouth and then whispered, “Ok, now is our chance to get into his room, let’s go”

The girls snuck towards the boys dorm stealthily and managed to get there completely undetected. Even if Max was seriously close to walking straight into a campus guard who had been leaning against a wall taking a nap.

They quickly entered and made their way towards Nathan’s room. When they got there, Chloe decided it was time to show her amazing lockpicking skills. Though she was overruled by Max who simply decided to open the door before trying to pick the lock. And io and behold, the door opened, Nathan hadn’t even bothered to lock it.

“Alright girls, let’s enter the dragon’s cave, I hope you all brought your rigged 20 sided dice, we’ll need those saving throws when we look for things to stay undetected”, Max whispered.

“Huh”, Taylor whispered as she looked weirdly at Max.

“Inside joke Taylor, don’t worry about it”, Chloe whispered and sent a wink and a smile in Max’s direction.

The girls proceeded to enter Nathan’s room hoping they would find something that could lead them to who had raped Kate, and if it at all was Nathan. They needed to find something, so they could pin this to him. But there was next to nothing in his room, until Chloe checked his garbage can, and in it, she found a bag with three letters on, GHB, and a note inside. “I think I got something girls”, Chloe whispered.

They all came and saw the bag Chloe held, they took the note out of the bag and read it. It simply said.

_You should only use this for emergencies ok ! it can get people killed if you use too much._

The three of them gasped, holy shit, was this the smoking gun they had been looking for. They quickly snuck out and back to the girls dorm, Max only stumbling twice, both times almost pulling Chloe’s pant’s down when she grasped for something to hold on to as she fell. Safely back in Taylor’s room they looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

“Soo”, Taylor started.

“Yeah”, Max continued.

“It does seem like it might be Nathan”, Chloe said.

“Well it’s not really usable proof. We’d need a DNA sample and the police involved to test that”, Max nervously said, “But it does implicate Nathan pretty badly in all of this”

“Sure as hell does”, Chloe spat out, being right about Nathan made her feel good.

“So what now ?”, Taylor said.

“We'll need more proof I think. Unless Nathan's fingerprints and such are on the bag, we got nothing except conformation of what we think.I think we should sleep on this”, Max mentioned, “I’m getting pretty tired. Not much we can do now anyway”

“Yeah, I’m with you on that Max. Can I crash in your room tonight Maximum power ?”, Chloe said, “I don’t feel like going home tonight, and maybe I kinda want to make sure you are safe with Nathan prowling around”

Taylor smiled, and shook her head, she couldn’t help wishing for a relationship like what Max and Chloe had. It seemed so pure and right, despite both of them being flawed too. “You two are too adorable”, she cooed.

Max’s face got red pretty fast when she heard what Taylor said, “Yeah, sure Chloe, let’s go to my room”

“Good night you two”, Taylor said and winked at them.

“Night Tay”, Max said as she grabbed Chloe’s hand and dragged Chloe towards her room, with a face flushed red like a fire engine.

“We are totally keeping these ninja suits Tay, hope you don’t mind”, Chloe said with a smile.

“No problem. We might need them again, so just make sure you don’t rip them or something ok”

Chloe, fist pumped, “YES”, smiled and let Max lead the way, “Night, night Tay”, and with that they left her room.

Hand in hand they moved towards Max’s room. Chloe kept stealing glances at Max. She’d just had Max back in her life for something like 2 days, but she had already fallen so completely and utterly in love with her again. Me and my first mate forever, she dreamily thought and her mind wandered back to their childhood adventure in the forest. It was as if the dorm disappeared around them and they were kids once more, wandering through the dark forest again. Somehow though it wasn’t scary, it was nice, just her and Max. She gripped Max’s hand a little tighter, “We’ll be safe first mate Max”.

Max looked back at her with those big blue eyes, “I know captain Price, but it’s getting late and I’m tired”

Chloe looked around and noticed the nook in the giant oak and pulled Max there,“Come here first mate, we’ll be safe here”, Chloe said.

Max giggled and let Chloe drag her close.

Chloe crept even deeper into the nook. Max snuggled as close as she could to Chloe, “Goodnight Chloe”

“Goodnight Max”, Chloe said and gently kissed Max on the forehead.

Being extremely exhausted, Max quickly drifted off to sleep. Chloe settled for just watching, as Max in her sleep kept trying to snuggle ever closer to her. Slowly Chloe’s vision returned to normal and she noticed they were in Max’s bed, both now just in their underwear and a t-shirt. They had apparently gotten out of the Ninja suits. She felt Max’s back against her chest, felt her slow heart beat through her own chest. Felt how her own heart beat was in tune with Max’s. She took a deep breath and put her arms around Max. Chloe wasn’t aware if she was awake or dreaming, but she could swear she saw the doe from their childhood standing in the middle of Max’s room, looking straight at her, “I’ll always protect you”, was the words etched into her brain just before Chloe fell asleep.


	24. Destiny moves on

* * *

**23\. Destiny moves on**

Max woke up by someone snoring loudly into her ear. She initially panicked and her body stiffened, but then she remembered where she was and with who. She felt Chloe’s arms around her and smiled to herself. She gently turned herself around so she wouldn’t wake Chloe.

She looked at Chloe’s face. All the hard features were gone when Chloe slept, so she looked just like when they were younger, well except for the blue hair of course.

Max’s eyes slowly moved down over Chloe’s body. She noticed they were both only wearing underwear and t-shirts. No wonder Chloe feels so hot against me, Max thought.

She couldn’t help but stop and stare at Chloe’s chest. Chloe had been sweating quite a lot in her sleep and the t-shirt was clinging to her upper body. Max could see through it. Chloe’s nipples were pierced. Wowser.

Max gulped, and as if an invisible force was guiding her, she moved a shaking hand forward and touched one of Chloe’s piercings through the t-shirt. Chloe’s snore was slightly interrupted, and Max immediately jerked her hand back, looking frightfully at Chloe’s face. But moments later she continued to snore.

Max moved her hand forward once more, she didn’t know why she did this, but she somehow couldn’t stop herself. Her trembling hands reached Chloe’s chest again and she gently grabbed Chloe’s piercings and pulled ever so slightly at them. She heard Chloe’s snoring become uneven as she did it, but Chloe didn’t wake up.

Max got a little braver. She tugged a little harder at them feeling the nipples grow hard. She could clearly see Chloe’s nipples through the shirt now, and Chloe made different noises.

Max moved her hand away and placed them on Chloe’s lower abdomen and gently moved them around there. She could feel her toned abs, and she could hear Chloe’s breaths getting heavy and she heard Chloe let out a moan in her sleep.

Max forgot everything about not waking Chloe up and moved her head close to her chest and took in a deep whiff of Chloe’s scent. It was intoxicating and Max had trouble thinking clearly. She moved her hands again and cupped Chloe’s breasts through the shirt and gently squeezed them.

Suddenly Max felt Chloe’s arms move, grabbing her and pulling her up to Chloe’s face, “Someone’s feeling frisky in the morning”, Chloe whispered to Max as she woke up from the touches.

Max’s face immediately turned deep red and she quickly pulled her hands back, afraid she might’ve done something Chloe didn’t want or maybe even embarrassed herself.

Despite being groggy from sleep Chloe noticed Max’s reaction,“Don’t worry Max, you can touch me if you want. I might’ve even been hoping you would”

“I didn’t do anything bad ?”

“Max don’t ever change you adorable little dork, and no you didn’t do anything wrong”, Chloe said and kissed Max.

Max slowly moved her hands forward again and this time touched and squeezed Chloe’s nipples. Chloe let out a small moan. Chloe had imagined so many times over the last five years how her and Max’s reunion would be. That she would wake up to Max curiously touching her like this, had never really been a part of it. Chloe didn't mind at all though, in fact she loved that Max was so curious, and that she couldn’t keep her hands off her. It made Chloe smile and feel happy.

“Did that hurt ?”, Max asked worried that she might’ve done something wrong.

“No Max, it felt good, that’s why I make a noise like that. You really are completely oblivious to all this aren’t you ?”

“I-I”, Max’s face was turning beet red and she bowed her head looking down, “Ehmm, I’ve watched a few things online, but I’ve never done anything..I mean I ehm touched myself a little, but never someone else's body”, Max nervously stuttered out.

“It’s ok, this way you get to have a way better first time than me”

“Your’s wasn’t good ?”

“It was in the backseat of a car with a kid who was clueless and so was I. You can imagine how that went”

Max felt sad that Chloe hadn’t had a good time back then and secretly blamed herself for it because she left. Her face fell and she sighed deeply.

Chloe noticed it, “Hey, I know that face. It wasn’t your fault Max, I could just have waited for you”

“But”

“No butts, unless you intend to touch mine”, Chloe said and chuckled, “now come here and I’ll teach you a thing or two about lovemaking”, and she wiggled her eyebrows seductively at Max.

“I’m not sure I’m ready for the full mile just yet Chloe, maybe just go slowly?”

“Don’t worry Max, we’ll do whatever you want to”, Chloe said with her most seductive voice.

Max moved closer to Chloe again. Chloe wrapped her arms around Max and pulled her into a deep passionate kiss. Max started feeling something warm build up inside her and she moaned loudly into Chloe’s mouth, which only made Chloe smile even wider as they kissed.

The two girls then spent the rest of the early morning strengthening their bond beyond being linked in mind and spirit, to also being linked physically.

When they were done, Max was laying sweaty and panting in the bed next to Chloe with a goofy happy smile. This was mirrored by Chloe who had her arms around Max. Max wished that this moment would never end, that they could stay here forever, just the two of them. That they wouldn’t have to go back out and start figuring out who had done evil things to Kate or what had happened to Rachel. As of right now though, she would enjoy this just a little longer, so she cuddled closer to Chloe and enjoyed the afterglow.

“I thought you weren’t ready for the full mile”, Chloe whispered to Max as she gently nibbled at her ear.

Max blushed a little, “Turns out I was ready for a lot more than that”, she said and turned her head so she faced Chloe, she put her lips to Chloe’s and felt a happiness she never thought existed when she kissed her.

The two girls drifted off to sleep again as they held each other, they had deserved a little more rest together, before they had to step back into the cruel world that Blackwell had turned into.

* * *

Victoria woke up and felt someone’s hair in her nose. She fluttered her eyes open and remembered that it was Kate’s. That her and Kate had slept together in her bed.

At first she was happy that Kate was there with her, then she remembered what had happened to Kate and what Courtney had done. Fuck, we’ll have to deal with that two timing bitch, Victoria thought, almost forgetting the promise she had given Kate, that she wouldn’t do anything. For now though she would settle for being right next to Kate.

Victoria breathed in deeply and hugged Kate a little tighter, just to make sure she was really there.

Then she heard it.

DING.

Huh, what the fuck is that, Victoria thought.

DING. DING.

She looked at the bedside table where her and Kate’s phones were placed and noticed that Kate’s was close to the edge of the table, and that the 'DING' noise came from it, followed by a vibration. This moved the phone closer and closer to the edge.

Victoria Reached out and grabbed Kate’s phone and moved it a bit further back so it wouldn’t fall of the table. However her motion made her push into Kate and that woke her up.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it..I’m sorry !”, Kate loudly exclaimed as she was shocked awake.

“Easy, Kate, you’ve done nothing wrong, you are here with me”, Victoria said as she gently hugged Kate.

“What, who, I”, and then Kate remembered, exhaled her breath and visibly relaxed, “Sorry Tori”

“Don’t be, you’ve done nothing wrong”, Victoria kept her arms wrapped around Kate, “Your phone’s been going off like a pocket rocket it seems”

“Really ! Oh, that can’t be good”, Kate remembered what Taylor had said the night before, about the vid Courtney had posted online. “Tori could you check who is trying to reach me, I’m to scared”

Victoria grabbed Kate’s phone and opened it, wow there was more than 100 messages and at least 30 missed calls.

“Wow, there is a lot of messages and calls”

“How many ?”

“More than 100 messages and at least 30 calls”

Oh my god, Kate thought, It must be the video. My mother and dad must’ve seen it or maybe the church too. Kate knew very well what it could do to her dad’s reputation as a pastor if their church had seen her in a vid like that, and she cringed internally.

“Who are they from ?”

“I think 1 call from your mom, 20 from your dad, and the rest are just jocks and 1 from Dana”

“The texts ?”

“Well there is quite a few from your mom, some from numbers I don’t know, a few from your sister and some from the jocks at school and some others”

“Ok, give me the phone, I’ll call my dad”

Victoria wordlessly handed the phone to Kate, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, “Don’t worry, we’ll get through anything together, you and me”, Victoria whispered to Kate.

This made Kate smile as she pressed the contact info to call her dad.

The phone rang a couple of times, but it seemed no one picked up. Kate was about to cancel the call, when her dad picked up.

“Katie is that you ?”, Kate’s dad answered and Kate could hear the worry in his voice.

“Yes dad, it’s me”

“Are you ok my little hurricane ?”

“I’m ok dad”

“You sure ? we’ve been sent a link to a homepage from one of the people in the church”

Kate sighed internally, and wasn’t sure what to say or do. She felt a squeeze from Victoria who in turn gave her a smile when she looked and another quick peck on the cheek. Kate knew what to do, and decided to tell her dad the truth if he asked, no sense in lying to him anyway, everything would be way worse if she did. But she hadn’t seen the video so she didn’t know what was on it.

“What video ?”, Kate asked.

“Well, the link is called Kateskiss.com, it’s basically of two girls kissing, and whomever sent it claims one of the two girls are you. Is it true ?”

Kate sighed, she wanted to tell the truth, had to tell the truth now that he asked. She had never lied to her dad before and she didn’t want to start now. She just wasn’t sure how to do it so he wouldn’t hate her.

“Yes dad, I was probably one of those 2 girls if one of them was wearing a white dress”

“So it was you, I did think it looked like you”

“Are you mad at me dad ?”

“Kate, I could never be mad at you, disappointed sometimes, but never mad”

Kate couldn’t hear what her dad felt at the moment, his voice was neutral, calm. Almost to calm.

“Dad, I got something to say”

Kate was met with silence, as her dad didn’t answer, so she thought maybe he was holding his breath for what she had to say.

“I”, Kate started nervously and her dad could for sure hear her nervousness, “I think I’m gay dad and the girl I’m kissing in the video is my girlfriend”

“What ?”

“I’m gay dad”, Kate felt liberated saying it, like a ton of bricks was lifted of her shoulders and despite everything she couldn’t help but smile.

“Well, that explains a lot”, her dad simply replied.

“You’re not angry dad ?”

“Not at all. Truthfully I have been wondering for years why you never had any boyfriends, or why you never took to any of the boys me and your mother tried to set you up with. This kinda explains it now doesn’t it”

“Dad I love you”, Kate said with a shaky voice while she began to tear up, as all her pent up fears had been let go.

“Now don’t you start crying my brave little girl, you’ll make me cry too”

“But dad, how can I not. I’ve been so nervous about what would happen”

“Katie, now you listen to me. Your sisters and me have no problem with you being like this, but you know how your mother is and everyone on her side of the family too. This will not be easy and eventually things will go sour on one of the sides. But know, we will support you no matter what”

“Dad, thank you so much, I love you so much”

“I love you too Katie”, there was a small silence after this before her dad talked again, “Your mother is probably going to call you again, and maybe a lot of the others from her side too. This will not be easy to weather, but forgive them, they know no better”

“I will dad, but if they are too much or overstep my boundaries, I may decide not to include them in my life any more”

“I’ll leave that up to you to decide, I can’t force you to do anything. I never could. We’ll have to talk a lot more later, but for now I think this is more than enough. I guess this day will be a long one for you, so it’s better you spend it with your girlfriend than listening to me on the phone”

“Dad, I..eh..would you like to talk with her ?”

“She’s there ?”

“Yes”

“Then yes, yes I would”

Kate looked at Victoria and mouthed ‘talk with my dad’ and gave her the phone.

Victoria looked at Kate and shrugged in a, what am I supposed to say kinda way and put the phone to her ear.

“Hello Kate’s dad”

“Hello Kate’s girlfriend”

Despite what everyone thought about pastors, Kate’s dad was a smart one and could always make people laugh with his often dry and well placed humor.

“Very funny, my name is Victoria”, Victoria said and chuckled a little.

“In that case, my name is Richard”, Kate’s dad said and after a little continued, “So, you really are Kate’s girlfriend ?”

“Yeah, I am”, Victoria said and her lips couldn’t help curving into a smile.

“So even though I did expect to give the speech to a boy, I guess I might as well give it to you”

“Oh god no, I don’t need another trip around the birds and the bee’s. My mom’s drilled that into my head a million times”

“I was thinking more along the lines of threatening you with the wrath of god if you hurt my baby girl”

“Oh”, Victoria replied slightly surprised, “So you are trying to tell me that you consider me the man in our relationship ? way to give a compliment by the way”, she dryly remarked.

“You are a smart one”, Richard replied with a chuckle, “I like you already Victoria”

“Well if it hadn’t been for Kate finding my heart, you might not”, Victoria said.

“We all need someone to guide us onto the right path Victoria, whether it be god or a fellow human doesn’t matter”

“I think I like you already too”, Victoria replied.

“In that case, I’ll trust you with my daughters heart, but don’t you dare break it”

“I won’t, I promise”

“Could you give the phone back to Kate”

“Yes of course and thanks for accepting us”

“There is no need to thank me. I trust Kate in her choices, even if they are unorthodox sometimes. She must follow her heart or be forever lost”

“Bye Richard”

“Bye Victoria”

Victoria handed the phone back to Kate who eagerly grabbed it.

“So Katie, she sounds nice”

“She is nice dad”

“Have you done anything you know”

“DAD”, Kate whined, “Even if we had I wouldn’t tell you and you know that”

“Sorry, that was uncalled for. I just worry”

“You always worry dad, sometimes I think it’s your job to worry”

“I’ll pray for you Katie. I think you might need all the help you can get from above when you get in touch with your mother”

Kate sighed, she knew her dad was right. Her mother had always been a bitch about things. Her mother was downright homophobic, and didn’t do anything to hide it. She was probably having a fit right now, knowing that her daughter might be one. The thought of that somehow filled Kate with glee instead of fear.

“Yeah dad, that is one phone conversation I’m not looking forward to”

“It might happen sooner than you think, because I haven’t seen her all day and the car is gone”

“She’s coming here ?”, Kate answered her voice shrinking with every word.

"I don’t know. She didn’t answer when I called her, so I honestly don’t know, but it is a real possibility. That or she drove over to your aunt. You know how those two can be”

“Yeah. Well, I guess I’ll have to trust in god and take it as it happens”, Kate said and sighed deeply, “Anyway, we’ll talk more later dad”

“I’m sure we will. Don’t let your mother boss you around when you talk with her. No matter what, ok ?”

“I won’t dad. Bye bye, love you dad, I’ll talk to you soon”

“I love you too my little hurricane, take care and be careful ok. Goodbye”, and with that her dad hung up.

Kate put the phone down on the table and looked at Victoria.

“So, I’m your girlfriend ?”, Victoria asked.

Kate looked down sorta embarrassed, her and Victoria hadn’t really talked about what they were yet, so she felt bad that she just said Victoria was her girlfriend, without even asking her.

“Hey, hey, don’t look like that bun bun”, Victoria said and grabbed her face and moved in for a kiss, which Kate returned, “If you hadn’t said it, I would totally have told you to say it”, she said as soon as her lips left Kate’s.

“Really ?”, Kate said as she looked into Victoria’s eyes and momentarily forgot about her mother possibly coming to Blackwell.

“Yeah”, Victoria said and continued, “Kate, will you be my girlfriend, my bun bun, to cuddle and kiss forever and ever ?”

Kate giggled at Victoria’s silliness, but still had to give her and answer, “I’ll think about it”, She said as straight faced as she could. She watched Victoria’s face turn into a frown and then Kate broke into a smile and wrapped her arms around Victoria. Just before she kissed her she said, “I’ll be whatever you want me to be, Victoria Marybeth Chase, even your girlfriend”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O M G...I mean not explicit..but its there...Curious Max getting a piece of Chloe...and Kate teasing Victoria...How on earth are things gonna pan out in the next chapters... ;-)


	25. Spread your wings and fly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Crazy...I know...
> 
> Crazy for thinking that my love could hold you  
> I'm crazy for trying and crazy for crying  
> And I'm crazy for loving you
> 
> Give Patsy Cline a listen ;-) 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OVtpnpCOKM

* * *

**24\. Spread your wings and fly**

Chloe awoke, and stretched her arms out carefully as to not awaken Max. She could feel Max’s warm body against her own and smiled when she recalled the memory of the two of them enjoying some quality time together earlier.

Chloe looked down at Max and gently brushed a few strands of hair away from her face. She looks so beautiful, was all Chloe could think as she memorized every little detail.

Max stirred stirred slightly in her sleep while Chloe did this and mumbled something in her sleep.

Chloe leaned over and whispered into Max’s ear, “Max, it’s time to wake up”, and as she did she gently blew some air into Max’s hair. This in turn tickled Max and she moved her hand up in her sleep to remove the pesky whatever it was.

“Just 5 more minutes mom”, Max mumbled.

Chloe stifled her laughter, she had to contain herself. She became more adamant than ever that she would wake Max by doing this. So Chloe blew air at Max again.

Max tried to roll over, but instead she rolled right into Chloe’s chest. Max abruptly awoke and upon seeing Chloe’s naked chest spent the next 5 seconds remembering why it was there, and then blushed furiously.

“As much as I enjoy watching you trying to figure out why I’m naked in your bed, we should get dressed Max, we have stuff to do”, Chloe said and kissed a still stunned and blushing Max on the cheek, “not to mention, you’ll catch fire if you blush any harder”

“Wait what, how, oh”, Max said and then she fully remembered all of what had happened earlier, and blushed so hard her face was almost purple. She spent a little time calming down and then shyly looked at Chloe, “Can we do what we did earlier, again, Chloe ?”, Max asked with a slightly nervous and shaky voice as she looked up at Chloe.

“No need to be shy about it, cause I sure hope so SuperMax”, Chloe said as she gave Max a kiss, “But it’ll have to wait, we have stuff to do and crimes to solve”

“Oh, yeah, I remember, I remember everything now”, Max said. Although she was slightly disappointed they couldn’t repeat what they had done earlier, right now, Max understood there were more important things, at least for now.

“I see that look on your face Caulfield. Trust me, if it wasn’t for what happened to Kate, we wouldn’t be walking out of that door the entire day”, Chloe said with a husky voice while looking seductively at Max.

“Not even to pee ?”

Chloe groaned, “Of course we’d go out to pee, I meant...”, and then Chloe noticed the slightly mischievous smile that was grazing Max’s lips, ”Oh, I get it. I’m rubbing off on you”

“In the worst possible way”, Max said and wiggled her eyebrows seductively at Chloe.

“Why Maxine Caulfield, are you flirting with me ?”

“Max, never Maxine and I dunno, you see anyone else in the room ?”

“You are making it very very hard to continue our investigation”

“I do my best, but I guess you are right. We need to do this for Kate”

“And Rachel”

“Yeah, for Rachel too”

And akward silence arose between them as Rachel’s name was mentioned. It lasted for well over a minute and then Chloe couldn’t really stand the silence anymore.

“You think we need a shower before we go out and kick ass on whomever fucked over Kate ?”, Chloe asked.

Max took a quick sniff, and wrinkled her nose,“Most definitely, I reek so hard and my mouth feels like sandpaper”

“To the bathroom it is, I’ll race ya”, Chloe said and took off, completely forgetting that she was stark naked.

Max just shook her head and started counting down, 3, 2, 1..as she reached 0, Chloe stuck her head in, “Ehh, could I borrow a towel Max, since I don’t have one here”

“Of course you can. While you’re at it have you considered not running stark naked down the main hallway of the dorm ?”

“Huh”, Chloe said and then it caught up to her that she was butt naked, “Ow, fucks sake”

Max couldn’t help it and started laughing as she tried to tease Chloe, “twhas wheaat shuuu gsst fwom bweeng ween soosch waa hwowwy”, Max managed to sputter out.

“Oh it’s on now”, Chloe said and jumped Max, tickling her for all she was worth, making Max howl with laughter.

Had anyone walked past Max’s room they would’ve seen two naked girls, in what was seemingly a tickle fight. Wouldn’t be the worst thing to watch, but it would certainly be embarrassing to Max. To Chloe, probably not so much, unless of course the person walking by was her step dad.

“Mercy, mercy”, Max begged Chloe.

“Not until you swear allegiance”, Chloe said and smiled as she tickled Max some more.

“I swear to dog that I'll kiss and hug you forever and ever”, Max managed to get out.

“Not exactly what I wanted you to say, but I guess I’ll settle”, Chloe said and added, “For now”, with a wink.

Max managed to get up. She found some clean clothes and two towels. She gave Chloe one of them.

“I’m not sure you can fit my underwear Chloe, but I can find a pair if you want to”

“Well, least we can try. It’s bound to be better than walking around in my own dirty ones I guess”

“Ok”, Max said and found a pair of pink panties for Chloe to use and tossed them to her.

“Really, you are giving me pink panties, maybe I should stick with my used ones”

“Not if you want a repeat performance of this morning you won’t”, Max said and offered Chloe a sweet smile.

“What, you wouldn’t, would you ?”, Chloe said displaying a shocked expression on her face.

“Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn’t”

“Way to ruin my punk rock image”, Chloe grumbled in response.

“Bite me”, Max said while she took a pair of white panties for herself.

“Oh I will”, Chloe mumbled under her breath.

Max picked up her toothbrush and other toiletries and they started walking towards the bathroom wrapped in their towels. Just as they walked into the bathroom, they heard  the front door of the dorm being slammed open and someone shouting.

“KATE BEVERLY MARSH, GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW !”

Max heard someone stomping down the hallway, and she peered out from the bathroom and she saw a woman in her mid forties with slightly graying hair, wearing a black dress walking past. Max thought for a bit, and then she remembered one of the pictures from Kate’s desk, holy shit, that was Kate’s mom. Max thought about warning Kate, but then she recalled that her phone was in her room so she couldn’t. Seems like Kate would have to weather this one on her own.

“Who was that ?”, Chloe asked.

“Kate’s mom I think”

“What the actual fuck, we gotta help Kate”, Chloe said and tried to scoot past Max.

Max Blocked Chloe’s way, “I only think we’ll make it worse Chloe. We are still naked, we smell of sweat and other things, haven’t brushed our teeth and are badly in need of a shower”

Chloe sighed and deflated, “Yeah, I guess. Let’s hurry and get this done, so we can get dressed and help Kate, before her mom tries to do an exorcism on her or something”

Max and Chloe quickly rushed to the showers and started cleaning themselves.

* * *

"KATE BEVERLY MARSH, GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW !”, A voice yelled down the hallway.

Kate could clearly hear who it was. She looked at Victoria, “Seems like mother did drive here”, Kate said.

“Don’t worry, we’ll deal with her together”, Victoria said and hugged Kate.

“I know. I’m just nervous because she can be..”, Kate said, sighed and looked down, “I don’t want to fight her, not now”

“If you don’t want to, then I’ll fight for you”, Victoria said, “I’ll fight for you until the end of time”

Kate looked at Victoria and she smiled one those beaming ones at Victoria, you know one of those that could melt the polar cap.

Victoria meant every word, she would fight for Kate, for them, for what they had and what their future could be if they were together.

“Thank you”, Kate said and held Victoria tight.

“For you, anything”, Victoria said.

“So should we go out to the hallway or let her figure out on her own where we are ? I can tell you she’ll go knocking every door until someone opens and points her in the right direction so we might as well open the door and get it over with”, Kate said.

“Let’s do it. Just let me do the talking”, Victoria said and squeezed Kate, ”I’ll go all queen bitch on her”

“Tori, please”

“Don’t worry, I’ll not be bad, but I won’t let her say shit that can hurt you without retaliating. You understand that right ?”

“I do”, Kate said, “Just don’t do it unless you have to”

Victoria nodded, and the two girls got up from the bed and walked towards the door. Victoria grabbed the handle, turned it and opened the door and walked out of her room Kate following shortly after.

They saw Kate’s mother furiously knocking on Kate’s door, “Kate, open this door. We need to talk. Open this door right now !”

Kate gathered all her courage and spoke up, “I’m here mother”

Her mother stopped knocking the door and turned around, when she saw Kate standing next to Victoria, she frowned,”I see, so it is true. You have become possessed by one of Beelzebubs whores. I always knew you were too weak to withstand the lure of the devil”

Kate’s mother looked at Kate and Victoria with such disgust and contempt that it made Kate want to hide behind Victoria.

“I see you are trying to hide behind the slut you kissed Kate, you can’t even face me”

Victoria had had just about enough of this, “How dare you”, she said and pointed a finger at her, “Just because something doesn’t fit your beliefs, it makes me a whore. We don’t have to listen to your crap”

“Oh but you do, because I am here to take Kate home. I’ll make sure she doesn’t come into contact with people such as you ever again”

“You can’t do that, Kate is 18, she can make the decision on her own”

“You think so ? because last I checked it was her father who paid the bills to this school, and when he learns that Kate is a..a lesbian, he will not pay another dime”, Kate’s mother spat out and looked victoriously at them.

“Oh really ? Thing is, Kate talked with him earlier and her father was fine with me and her being together. So I don’t think you’ll be very successful in that endeavour”, Victoria said with an icy voice that would make anyone at Blackwell shiver. Didn’t work like that with Kate’s mother though, only seemed to fuel her fire.

“It doesn’t matter, I will make sure Kate get’s in my car and drive with me home, I am her mother and she will do as I say. If she doesn’t I’ll tell her dirty little secrets from the past to anyone who’ll listen and she’ll come crawling on her own”

Victoria couldn’t believe this woman, she wasn’t a good Christian, she was possessed by something. No self respecting Christian would threaten their own child like that.

“Do you even know what that video have done to your fathers communion, to his church ? They are talking about taking his right to preach away from him because of this”, Kate’s mother said, “It’s all on you if that happens”

Victoria had had it, and wanted to let this bitch feel her full fury, so she opened her mouth and was about to say something when she felt Kate move forward and walk past her.

Kate stepped over to her mother, who in turn started to smile victoriously, “I knew you’d come to yo…”, was all she managed to say before Kate’s hand connected with her face and she slapped her so hard that a glowing red hand mark was on her mother’s face.

Kate was positively livid, “HOW DARE YOU”, she shouted, “HOW DARE YOU THREATEN ME. HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME FEEL BAD ABOUT WHAT I AM”. Kate’s eyes were burning through her mother’s skull and it seemed like she was shrinking physically out of fear of her own daughter.

Her mother just stood there with her hand onto her cheek, her mouth wide open in shock.

Kate just looked at her with utter contempt, “You think I’m scared of you mother ?”, Kate said with a fury she had forgotten she possessed, ”well let me tell you, I am not ! Nothing you can say or do will hurt me. And just for the record, if I were you I wouldn’t try anything stupid like spreading rumors, because I know your dirty little secret”

Her mother looked up with a surprised and slightly fearful look on her face, “W-What ?”, she stammered.

“Yeah, I know that you cheated on dad with your sisters husband”, Kate said matter of factly as she stared her mother down.

“I did no such thing”, she weakly sputtered out.

“Father knows it already by the way”, Kate causally said, “After I had told him what I had seen, he put a tracker on your car and followed you one day for one of your ‘church meetings’”, Kate emphasized the last bit with a sneer, ”He saw the two of you in the cabin out in the woods. He decided not to say anything about it because he didn’t want to hurt the family. But I think he’ll confront you about it if you do anything stupid”

“I, I..You whore, no one will believe your lies”, Kate’s mother tossed out, but both Kate and Victoria could see her slowly retreating and cowering as if she’d been hit with something.

“They are not lies, the only liar here is you. At least I’m being honest with who and what I am, while you hide it. The only whore here is you. Imagine what would happen if dad told your sister about this”

Kate’s mother’s face feel, “I will not forget this. I’ll get you back on the right path whatever it takes”

“No mother, I am on the right path. It is you who lost your way and need guidance”

“In what ? How to become a lesbian whore. No thanks”

“Mother, I think you should leave, you have no purpose here any more. I hope one day that you will find your way, because you have clearly been lead astray.”

Kate’s mother huffed, and started walking backwards towards the exit. As she did she pointed a finger angrily at Kate and Victoria, “This is not the last you hear of this”, was her last words before she exited the dorm and Kate drew a deep breath and sighed.

Victoria stood there in awe, Kate had just stood up to her mother, had slapped her, told her to fuck off in slightly nicer words than that, but still, “Oh my god”, Victoria said, “I can’t believe you Kate”

“I didn’t want to do that”, Kate said, “I wish I could’ve resolved that without hitting and threatening her. Violence is never the answer”

“Pfft, she fucking deserved it”, Victoria blurted out, “What an absolute bitch, if you hadn’t hit her I probably would’ve ended up doing it”

“I know”

“Anyway, you sorta now completely confirmed that you and I are in a relationship Kate. I mean you stood up to your mother and told her to shove it cause you weren’t going anywhere”

“Yeah, I guess I did”, and just like that Kate slipped back into her normal shy personae.

“Hey, don’t be shy about it. I love that you have this in you. That you are willing to fight for us”, Victoria said in admiration as she drew Kate closer to her and gave her a quick kiss.

“Hey , where is Kate’s mom”, they heard a voice say as they saw Max and Chloe run around the corner from the bathroom stalls.

“Oh, so now you two show up”, Victoria said with a smirk, “Could’ve used some backup a few minutes ago”

“What do you mean, we were butt naked and smelled like pigs”, Chloe said and sounded offended.

“And ? Isn’t that pretty normal for you Chloe”, Victoria said with a chuckle,”Nice panties by the way”.

“What ! Oh fuck”, Chloe said as she remembered she was wearing Max’s pink panties, “I’ll let you have this one”, Chloe said with a slight smile and a middle finger pointed in Victoria’s direction.

“Anyway, you only missed Kate slapping her mother”, Victoria dryly remarked.

“You did WHAT ?”, Max and Chloe said simultaneously.

“Yeah, I kinda did”, Kate said shyly and looked down to the ground, stepping on her own feet.

“I’m so proud of you”, Chloe declared and gave Kate a bone crushing hug.

“Can’t...breathe..please”, Kate exaggeratingly exclaimed and Chloe let her go.

“But really, you did that ?”, Max asked.

“Yeah, she was being a bad person, so I had no other choice”, Kate got out, trying her hardest not to swear, but in reality she felt like calling her mother all the worst things she could think of.

"Well you can be my bodyguard anytime”, Victoria said, “With powers like that, you can slap sense into anyone for me”

“Tori”, Kate said and elbowed Victoria, “I don’t condone violence and you know it”.

Victoria just smiled and moved in for a hug that ended up being a kiss instead.

Chloe wolf whistled and wiggled her eyebrows, “Look at you two go at it”, she hollered.

Kate blushed, as Victoria pulled back.

Victoria retorted, “Look who’s talking. You two honestly believed no one would hear the two of you ?”

Now it was Max’s turn to blush.

“Oh, can’t have my bae feeling left out on the kissing action”, Chloe said as she grabbed Max, pushed her against the wall and initiated a deep sensual kiss, which made Max blush even more.

“You two, this isn’t a competition”, Kate said and took Victoria’s hand, “Let’s go back to your room Tori. We’ll talk later Chloe and Max, ok ?”

“You bet”, was Chloe’s answer.

Kate dragged Victoria into the room, away from hallway, away from prying eyes, and closed the door.

“Tori ?”

“Yes Kate”

“Do you want to make it official ?”

“What do you mean ?”

“Well I mean, we’ve kinda decided that we are girlfriends, I thought maybe we should make it official or something”

“As in ?”

“I don’t know, facebook, to all our friends”

“I”

“I understand if you don’t want to, I mean”

“No, I want to Kate, it’s just there might be some serious repercussions”

“Like what ?”

“Well my mom and dad are homophobic”

“Well so is my mother as you just saw”

“Yeah well, mine are big time. If you think your mother is bad, you should met my parents. They tried putting me up with boys for years, but I took to none of them. They just, I mean boys just didn’t make me feel anything”

“And girls do ?”

“Yeah, I always looked at girls. It was easier for me to smile and feel safe around girls. I mean, it took a while before I realized it, but one day it just clicked. Anyway, my parents found out and things got weird”

“Like how weird”

“Well I’m suppose to be perfect, just like them. So when they found out they forced me to date a boy, even though I didn’t want to. They even paid every girl I liked to stay away from me. I haven’t had any freedom until I got here, and I was only allowed to go here because I promised I wouldn’t do anything like this, like you and me”

“Oh, so you don’t want to make it public that you and I, that we, that we..”, Kate began but her voice slowly disappeared as her eyes looked down to her feet.

“I do, I so badly want to, I’m just so scared of the consequences”, Victoria said.

“Tori”

“Yes”

“Look at me”

Victoria looked into Kate’s wonderful eyes and felt Kate’s hand on her cheek. She could see and feel the love Kate held for her. The way Kate’s hand was slightly shaking as she touched her, only made Victoria realize that Kate really cared for her and that she was nervous about this too. Victoria was about to say something, but Kate opened her mouth first and Victoria’s words got stuck in her throat.

“I love you”, Kate said, and Victoria could feel the raw emotion in every word Kate said, “I would do anything to be with you. Would you do the same for me ?”

“Yes”, Victoria said, suddenly feeling a little shy and she felt a blush creep onto her face, “Yes I would. I love you Kate. I love you so much that it scares me”

“Then why are we afraid what others might think of us? Our real friends already know about you and me, and they are ok with it. If anyone else thinks differently, we can just live without them in our life”

“Ok”, Victoria said, her brain having found it’s footing again.

“Ok what ?”

“Let’s make it official, facebook official, instagram, whatever...Let’s do it”

Kate smiled and took Victoria’s hand and dragged her over to the laptop. Victoria grabbed her digital camera too.

“Let’s do a Max”, Victoria said.

“A what ?”

“A selfie Kate”

“Oh”, as Kate said that Victoria Kissed her on the cheek and the flash went off just as Kate blushed and smiled sweetly at the feeling of Victoria’s kiss on her cheek. It was a good picture.

They opened Victoria’s fancy laptop and went to Victoria’s facebook and Kate’s facebook.

A few minutes later they looked at each other satisfied. There was now a new entry on their respective facebooks.

Kate Marsh is in a relationship with Victoria Chase, above it the picture they just took, simply titled ‘My angel’.

On Victoria’s, Victoria Chase is in a relationship with Kate Marsh, above it the same picture with the same title.

They smiled at each other as the notifications on their facebook account’s started to run amuck with congratulations, likes and comments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really I've gone nuts for a little...Next few chapters are gonna be insane ;-)


	26. 12 to midnight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To put you in the mood
> 
> I'm waiting in my cold cell when the bell begins to chime  
> reflecting on my past life and it doesn't have much time  
> Cause at 5 o'clock they take me to the gallows pole  
> the sands of time for me is running low
> 
> This is literally my favorite song ;-)
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghF8Yrm0DjQ

* * *

**25\. 12 to midnight**

Max and Chloe was getting dressed in Max’s room when they heard a ding from Max’s laptop.  
Curious as ever Max walked to her desk and took a look.

“Ok, that’s nice”

“What’s nice ?”, Chloe asked.

“Kate and Victoria just announced to the world that they are a couple”

“Yeah right, as if. They have like everything to lose”, Chloe shot out.

“Well, they did it anyway. You can come see it if you want”

Chloe walked over and looked at the laptop over Max’s shoulder. She saw the announcement on both Victoria’s and Kate’s facebook and the amount of likes they were both getting.

“Damm, can we do that too ?”, was Chloe’s answer as she thought out loud.

“I don’t really feel like we need to do it, do we ?”, Max said.

“Not really no. Not yet at least”, Chloe said and stole a quick kiss, “Now Watson, don’t we have a crime to solve and a criminal to find ?”

“We sure do”

“Let’s get this show on the road then”

They were now both dressed and ready to go. Chloe grabbed Max’s hand and dragged her along as they went outside. In the immediate dorm area there was no sign of Nathan. Zachary and Logan was practising football as usual. Alyssa was reading a book and Taylor sat down under a tree with her phone next to her ear.

Max and Chloe started walking towards Taylor, as they did Logan miss timed his catch and the ball came soaring towards Alyssa. Chloe saw it and rushed there and caught the ball just before it hit Alyssa in the face.

“Hey you two, watch your fucking moves”, Chloe shouted and tossed  the football back to Logan.

“Thanks Chloe”, Alyssa said, “Had you not been there it would’ve hit me right in the face”

“Your welcome”

Max smiled and enjoyed that Chloe had just pulled off her good deed of the day. So much that without thinking she leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips.

Alyssa looked on in shock, “Wait, are you two. I mean..Oh”

Max reeled back, blushed hard and stammered, “Yes, I mean no..I “

Chloe rescued her reeling girlfriend, “We are, but don’t speak to loudly about it. We aren’t ready to go public with it just yet. Not like Kate and Victoria just did at least”

“Say what”, Alyssa said.

“Yeah, they just did on facebook”, Max said having regained her composure.

“You are kidding me, right ?”, Alyssa said completely in shock, not fully believing that Victoria and Kate were together. This was especially hard to believe for Alyssa, because she had seen how Victoria had treated and bullied Kate last semester. Not to mention how much she had bullied Alyssa herself.

“No they aren’t Alyssa”, Taylor, who had just walked over there, said, “Here you can look on Victoria’s facebook on my phone”

“This is, oh my”, Alyssa said, “But how ? Victoria’s been so mean to her and now this”

“Victoria’s changed Alyssa, haven’t you noticed ?”, Max said.

“Well yes, but I mean….Well she hasn’t really picked on me the last week or so. I guess you are right. Oh gosh”

The girls all shared a smile.

“And here I thought that vid on Kateskiss.com was one Victoria had posted”, Alyssa mentioned, “But I guess the facebook message means it wasn’t”

“No, that was Courtney”, Taylor said, “She’s been on the warpath lately”

“I see. Well if Victoria choose Kate I can see why. Courtney never liked being left out”

“I don’t think Courtney was ever truly Victoria’s friend. She was just there for the power of it”, Taylor said.

“Hmm hmm”, Alyssa said clearly thinking things over in her head.

“Anyway, sorry to be a party pooper, but shouldn’t we get going Max, we have stuff to do”, Chloe said looking expectantly at Max.

“Like making out in your room ?”, Alyssa said with a smirk.

“What !”, Max exclaimed a blush creeping onto her face.

Chloe laughed at Max’s reaction, “No we aren’t going to do that Alyssa, I wish that was on the agenda, but it’ll have to wait for later. For now we have other things to do, like finding Nathan”

“Aha, why do you want to find him ?”

“Well he hasn’t answered any text’s we sent and Victoria is sorta getting nervous about him, thinking that maybe he’s done something stupid”, Chloe said lying through her teeth.

“Ok. Those two always stick together so makes sense Victoria is getting nervous. With Victoria being gay it also totally makes sense that the two of them never got romantically involved”, Alyssa said.

“Anyway, have you seen Nathan ?”, Max asked.

“Nope. Haven’t seen him since the last Vortex party actually. But if he pops up I’ll be sure to send one of you a text”, Alyssa said.

“Thanks, and in that case, me and Watson here got other people to question”, Chloe said once again trying to do a british accent.

The other three girls cracked up, cackling up a storm at her poor imitation.

“Oh god Chloe, that’s got to be your worst attempt at that accent yet”, Max said as she howled with laughter.

“Yeah, I’m starting to think even Samuel does accents better than you”, Taylor said.

“Hey, I resent that”, Chloe said and pouted.

Once they all regained their composure, Max and Chloe said a quick goodbye and headed off. They walked to the parking lot towards Chloe’s truck.

“So where to ?”, Max asked.

“Well, I heard Nathan mumble something about visiting Frank last night. So we should probably go pay him a visit”, Chloe said.

“We are going to visit a known drug dealer ?”, Max said with a bit of hesitation in her voice.

“Yup, we sure are. It’s no big deal, I’ve visited him plenty of times”, Chloe said as she opened the door to her truck and Max got in. Chloe got behind the wheel and started it up. They drove down the hill from Blackwell towards the beach below the lighthouse. Chloe said it was a known spot where Frank parked his RV. Chloe’s prediction was true, as it was indeed parked there. They parked the truck a bit away from it and got out.

“Ok Max, let me do the talking. I’ve been a customer of Franks for my weed for a while, so he knows me. He doesn’t trust strangers, so it’s better that you don’t talk at all”

“Ok”, Max said and nervously gulped. She was a bit scared, not even knowing how frank looked or even how he’d behave.

They walked hand in hand towards Frank’s RV and just as they got round the end of it an angry growl reached their ears. It was from a dog.

“Yeah, yeah you angry mutt, I’m coming with your food”, they heard a gruff voice from inside the RV. A few moments later Frank came out of the RV with the dogs food. He was a scruffy looking guy in a leather jacket with unkempt messy hair. Looked both scary and slightly fucked at the same time, almost as if he was using from his own stash.

He didn’t immediately notice Chloe and Max so he just set the dog bowl down and expected the dog to start eating, but it continued barking.

“What the hell is up with you Pompidou, I give you food and you bark at me”

“Hmmm hhm”, Chloe cleared her throat and Frank turned around.

“Chloe Price, what a priceless surprice. I see you brought a little squirt with you. Is she your piggy bank now that Rachel is gone ?”, He said not even trying to hide his puns or disdain for Chloe’s feelings, “You’ve come to pay your tab or you want something else ?”

Chloe grinded her teeth and fought hard to keep her urge to smash his face in, under control,“I need some information Frank”, Chloe managed to get out through her clenched teeth.

“Oh really, well maybe if you pay the...lemme see, 1000$ you owe me, then maybe I’ll help you”, Frank said and nonchalantly spread his arms as he swaggered towards them.

“Wait what, you owe him a 1000$ Chloe”, Max questioned.

“Long story Max”

“No, not a long story, a short one. She owes me, the end”, Frank stated graphically.

Max walked towards Frank, “Hey, stop right there”, Frank said and pulled something out from his pocket. It was a gun. Max stopped dead in her tracks, frozen with fear.

“Jesus Christ Frank”, Chloe said, “She’s fucking unarmed and couldn’t harm you even if she tried, ease off man”

Frank looked at Max and lowered his gun slightly as he saw how she was frozen with fear, “Sorry kid, I’m not normally this jumpy. Just a lot of shit have happened the last few months”

“Tell me about it”, Chloe sarcastically said.

“Hey, snap out of it kid”, Frank said and moved towards Max, who in turn slowly moved backwards until she hit the RV and couldn’t move further.

“Frank for fucks sake, put the gun away, can’t you see she is scared shitless of it”, Chloe shouted.

“Oh, Sorry, I’m sorry”, Frank said and put the gun back into his pant’s, “There all better now right ?”

Max gulped nervously, she had almost shit her pants when he pulled the gun and now Frank was almost next to her. She was so scared her entire body was shaking.

Chloe saw this and quickly moved between her and Frank, grabbing Max’s hand in the process, “Hey Max, don’t worry it’s fine, he put the gun away”

“But was he, is he”, Max stammered.

“No, Frank would never have done that. He is not as much of a hardass as he seems”, Chloe said to Max.

“Hey, I’m the biggest bad ass motherfucker in this town”, Frank said.

“Doesn’t fucking take much to be that here, now does it ?”, Chloe shot back with a dangerous edge to her voice.

Max took her sweet time relaxing and it took all of Chloe’s will power not to turn around and smack Frank in the face. What was he thinking, pulling a fucking gun on her Max.

Finally Max was somewhat calmed down and with a shaky voice she asked,“What kind dog is it you have ?”

“You like dogs ?”, Frank said with a slight surprise in his voice.

“Yeah I love them”, Max said, “Dogs are special, they will love you regardless of how many times you fail or how much stupid shit you pull. You can go away for a day, and when you come home a dog will show you love as if you've been gone for a year”

“Yeah, I get it”, Frank said sporting a small smile, “Sorry about the whole gun thing, I didn’t mean to do that. It’s just a lot of crap have happened in the last few months and I’m a bit on edge. And it’s true, Dogs love you as long as you feed them and pet them. He’s a German shepard pitbull mix by the way, I rescued him from dog fights”

“Really”, Max said, slowly understanding that Frank really might not be as hard and edgy as he let on, “Will he bite if I try to pet him?”

“Maybe, I don’t know”, Frank said, “Only one way to find out though”

Normally Max wouldn’t go to a dog she didn’t know, especially not after someone had threatened her with a gun. But somehow Max felt that this was ok and she walked over to Pompidou. Fearlessly she reached out with her hand and petted him gently, “You’re such a good dog aren’t you. Yes you are”.

Pompidou moved forward and started licking Max’s hand as she continued petting him, “He likes me”, Max stated as a big smile came onto her face.

In that moment Frank knew Max was ok, Pompidou had only reacted like that with 2 other people, him and Rachel. He never could say no to that girl, Pompidou couldn’t either, a rare honest smile grazed his lips as he remembered Rachel. She had left him eventually and he knew she had only used him to get drugs free. But regardless of it, she was a rare light in his dark life, so he would remember her always.

“Well, if Pompidou likes you, then you are ok”, Frank said, “He usually growls or bites people when they try to pet him, well except me that is”

“Good to know”, Max said, “I guess that makes me pretty special then”

Frank laughed at this, “I guess so”

“So Frank, will you help us”, Chloe persisted.

“Oh, alright. I’m just a big old softie when it comes to it”, Frank said and sighed.

“We were wondering if you have seen Nathan around, or sold him any GHB lately”, Chloe said bluntly.

“Seen him, yes, last night even, but he just wanted some downers. And hell no to the GHB, I stay away from that. Only total assholes sell that shit. I may be a drug dealer, but I won’t stoop that low”

“Fuck, we really need to find Nathan. He is in some deep shit Frank and we are trying to help him”, Chloe lied, “Could you text me if he swings by”

“Yeah sure, you gonna pay me anytime soon Chloe ?”

“When I have the money I will”

“Pff, you’ve been saying that for the last 6 months and look how much money you brought..oh yeah..none”, Frank said.

“She’ll pay you, I promise”, Max said as she walked over to Frank and grabbed his hand, “Thank you for helping us Frank, we won’t forget it. Next time though, please don’t pull a gun on me, it really scared me shitless and I already hate guns as it is”  
   
“You are welcome squirt. Honestly I don’t like guns either. You do stupid things when you have a gun”, Frank said with a shrug.

“Let’s go Chloe, we can’t find out more here”, Max said.

“But, I, you”, Chloe stuttered, her mind still trying to understand that Max had just taken charge and promised Frank that he’d get his money, which Chloe initially had intended to never pay him. Though Chloe knew there was no arguing with Max on such subjects, one way or another, Chloe would now be forced to pay back Frank.

“See you around Frank”, Max said as she took Chloe’s hand and more or less dragged her away towards the truck. As they reached it they got in and Chloe started the car. They drove in silence towards Chloe’s home  When they reached it Chloe parked the car and Chloe got out.

“What are we doing here ?”, Max asked.

“I just need to get a few things”, Chloe said, “You can stay in the car if you want, won’t take long”

“Ok”

Chloe vanished and quickly ran to the house. After making sure that her stepdad wasn’t in, she snuck into the garage and took his spare set of keys. She grabbed a bit of extra clothes from her room, that she intended to stash in Max’s dorm room. She also changed out of the pink undies she borrowed from Max, not a chance in hell she would ever give anyone a chance to make a comment like Victoria did ever again. She came out of the door a few minutes later and once again entered the car.

“Just needed some extra clothes Max”, Chloe said, “And I’m sorta not to happy with your pink underwear, so I changed into some of my own”, Chloe said and tossed the pink ones at Max’s face.

Max for once wasn’t clumsy and much to her own surprise caught the panties mid air and couldn’t help but laugh, “Oh really, I thought they looked cute on you. My pink panty punk”

Chloe smiled and gave Max a kiss that was sure to send shivers down her spine.

“You are crazy Chloe”, Max said with dreamy eyes clearly wanting more than just the kiss.

“Yup, insane in the brain. But you love it don’t you”, Chloe said with a hopeful voice.

“Wouldn’t want it anyother way”, Max said with a sincerity and love that gave Chloe a lump in her throat and teary eyes.

“How do you do this to me Max, turn me into a huge mushy mess”, Chloe said with a tiny voice.

“It’s not me Chloe. It’s the power of love”, Max said as she gave Chloe a tender kiss on the lips.

“Now let’s go to Blackwell so we can do something about our case Sherlock”, Max said for once nailing the accent perfectly.

Chloe didn’t laugh, in fact she was surprised that Max had done the accent perfectly. So she just started the car and got on the road to Blackwell. As they reached it after an uneventful and silent drive, they entered the parking lot.

Chloe looked at Max, “So what now Max ?”

“I don’t know, I’m sorta clueless at the moment”

Chloe had already anticipated this, hence why she had nicked her stepdad’s keys, “I have it, let’s go into the school and look into the principal's office”, she said with clear excitement.

“What, are you crazy, we can get expelled if we get caught”

“And ? don’t you want to catch the guy behind this”

“Yeah but I don’t see how breaking into the principal's office will help us do that”

“Helloo, he’s got psychic evaluations of all the troublesome students, and Nathan is about the most fucked up student in school”

“Oh”

“So, you wanna ?”, Chloe asked, clearly excited about the prospect of doing something mischievous she wasn’t suppose to.

“I don’t really want to, but your suggestion makes sense”, Max said, her shoulders sinking as she did.

“Yes”, Chloe said, “But we should probably wait until it get’s dark as otherwise we’ll get caught to easily”.

“But how are we even gonna get in ? The doors are locked before it gets dark”

“Ye of little faith”, Chloe said, “You forget my stepdad is a guard here”, as she said it she whipped out a set of Keys.

“Won’t he miss them”, Max said.

“It’s his spare set and if I put them back tomorrow before he wakes up, he won’t notice”, Chloe said, “All we have to do now is wait until it gets dark”

“We can go to my room and watch a movie while we wait”, Max suggested.

“Oh, now you are talking my language”, Chloe said and smiled, "Though not sure how much of the movie we'll see", she added under her breath.

The two girls walked towards the dorms completely failing to notice the figure watching them, having heard every word they said.

This is my chance, tonight I can get her, he thought, I just have to wait for the right time to strike.

As afternoon turned into late evening, Max and Chloe felt they had waited enough. Even if waiting together wasn’t exactly boring, mainly because Max decided to spend it training her kissing skills, which Chloe had no objections against. It had become evening, the sun was setting and it was getting darker. Chloe had insisted that they wore the ninja outfits, but Max had refused. So it was just Chloe wearing it.

The two of them snuck along walls and bushes, remaining undetected. Eventually they reached the main doors and Chloe got out the keys to open it.

“Chloe, won’t there be alarms”, Max whispered.

Chloe thought about it for a moment, “Not sure, I don’t think the main doors have them. Besides it’s a school, why’d anyone want to steal anything from a school”

Chloe tried almost every key until she eventually found the right one and the key went in, but the lock didn’t turn. What, Chloe thought and then she tried the doorknob and the door opened.

“After you”, Chloe stated, “seems the door wasn’t even locked”

“Why thank you”, Max whispered and went through the door.

The two girls entered the completely dark school and swiftly went towards the principal's office. As they got there they could hear voices from inside it.

“Samuel, you should have that drink with me. Nothing wrong with a little whiskey”

“Samuel doesn’t drink. The spirits don’t like it, they say it ruins Samuels perception of the world”

“Spirit’s. Samuel you are one strange man, but you are the best groundskeeper we ever had”

“Samuel is also the only groundskeeper you’ve ever known to be here”

Max and Chloe could hear a chuckle from inside the office, “You are right, but you still do a good job Samuel”

“Thank you, now Samuel have to go. Samuel doesn’t like the dark, spirit’s grow restless in the dark”

“If you are scared Samuel, I can walk you, two is better than one and I should be going home anyway”

They heard some chairs moving about in the office and understood that Samuel and the principal would be coming out soon. They quickly ran behind the secretary’s table and hid under it. Shortly after the door to the principal’s office opened and him and Samuel came out.

Chloe and Max heard the two small talking as they walked towards the door and finally exited. They heard the lock click and knew that the principal had locked the door to the outside.

Chloe walked over and tried the doorknob to the principal’s office and the door opened. Chloe mouthed, he forgot to lock the door, with a smile.

The two teenagers entered his office and saw the lights were still on. Max went straight for his pc and pressed the spacebar, the pc lit up and revealed that the principal had forgot to lock that too.

“Well so much for data security”, Max said with a low voice.

"What do you mean”

“He didn’t even lock his pc before he left, anyone could just walk in and take all data on it”

“Damm, he must’ve had a bit too much whiskey”

Max started browsing the principal’s folders for the psych evaluations, and found them. They seemed to be named by initials and in alphabetical order.

“Hmm, there is a folder with your name on it Chloe, want to read it ?”

“Naw, I already know what it says”

Max then browsed onto Nathan’s folder, and when she opened it she found two folders. One that said official and one that said unofficial.

The official one was squeaky clean, while the real one was..let’s just say disturbing. Apparently Nathan suffered from a lot of disorders and was on and off all kinds of medications. The most striking thing though was that the people treating him was constantly changing. It almost seemed like someone was trying to prevent them from actually making Nathan get better.

“Well, that shit is disturbing”, Chloe said as she read it over Max’s shoulders.

“That’s the understatement of the year”, Max said, “well we got what we wanted, now let’s get out of here”

“Not so fast, let’s see what else the principal got in this office”, Chloe said as she started opening drawers and looking into them.

“Chloe !”, Max said, “We are not thieves”

“I don’t know about you, but I know for a fact that the principal is taking bribe money from Prescott’s dad”

“And ?”

“Well I thought if they are here I might pay off Frank with them, would be better than principal Well’s using them on whiskey don’t you think ?”

Max looked down, she didn’t want to be a thief. But on the other hand, if the money wasn’t legal anyway then…”Ok, if we find bribe money we can take the money you need to pay off Frank, but nothing else !”

Chloe smiled and continued her search while Max snooped on his pc some more. Max checked into the psych evaluations of some of the other student’s, like Logan and Zachary to see if she could figure out why they were a pair of giant douche bags.

After them there was another folder with Courtney’s name on it. Max read it. Boy was it disturbing, Courtney had had some really fucked up episodes in her life. Being admitted twice to a mental institution for psychotic and violent behavior. Max wondered how Courtney could even be here with such a record, and then noticed a small document called ‘tab’ in the folder. It was basically a list showing her parent’s monthly bribe payments to Principal Well’s for keeping silent about it. Damn, we have to go public with this too, the principal is risking the lives of the schools students, because of his own greed. Max saw another folder, it was named WG and was about to open it when Chloe found something.

“Max, look here”, Chloe said with pride in her voice as she showed Max the hidden room she had found and the many envelopes in it. Most of them had writing on them, like, Contribution to the handicap fund, New tools for the shed or Better changing accommodations for the opposing teams.

Both Chloe and Max knew they had to be bribe money, why else hide them like that. Chloe took a random one, called, to keep the Squirrels happy. There was 1500$ inside. More than enough, she thought, as she put it into her pocket.

“Let’s get out of here Chloe”, Max said, “this place is starting to give me the creeps, and you know I hate the dark”

Chloe actually wanted to explore some more, “Ow, come on first mate. Don’t you want to explore the school after dark ?”

“No, no and hella no, it’ll just be like one of those cheap slasher movies where one of us end up dead”, Max said.

“Just a little bit, please”, Chloe begged and looked at Max with puppy eyes.

“Really ! Ok, just a little then, but you take point”, Max said.

“Yes”, Chloe said as loud as she dared. They walked out of the office and moved towards the photography class. Since it was Max’s favorite subject, Chloe thought Max would feel safer in there.

“Could you check it out first Chloe and tell me if it’s safe”, Max said with a shaky voice.

“Anything for you Max”, Chloe said and entered the room. She moved in there and went from one end to the other making sure it was empty of people.

“It’s safe Max, no one is here”, Chloe said, but Max didn’t answer. Chloe called out again, “Max”, still no answer, “Max this isn’t funny. Ok, we can go to your room, I know you hate the dark”, but still no answer.

Chloe rushed out of the room, but Max wasn’t there. “Max ! Max where are you”, Chloe said it as loud as she dared, but no one answered.

Chloe felt her stomach constrict and a sickening emotion hit her, Max was gone, just like Rachel, Max was gone. Chloe ran out of the school completely disregarding the fact that she could get caught at anytime and ran towards the dorm in full sprint, banged through the main doors and rushed into Max’s room, but Max wasn’t there either.

Chloe was panicking, she texted Max over and over, but got no answer. She went limp against the wall and slowly slid down it, her whole body started shaking as she fully realized what was going on. Max was gone, and then her tears came and wrecked through her until she couldn’t cry anymore.

After she had calmed herself, Chloe started thinking. This had to be the work of Nathan, Chloe was sure of it. She was now, more than ever before, determined to find him. And if Max had been hurt, he would pay, he would pay with everything he had. Chloe swore it as she walked out into the night, blinded by rage, to search for both him and Max.

* * *

Somewhere in Arcadia Bay, at an old barn, a car came rolling up. A young man stepped out of it with a smirk on his lips.

An older more distinguished man, walked out from the barn towards him

“So you finally got her ?”

“Yes, I did”

“Did anyone follow you here ?”

“Please, the only one that’s even close to her, have no clue about this place. And anyway, the first thing she did was run away from where I was, thinking Max had gone to her room in the dorm”

“Excellent”

“So are we going to do anything tonight ?”

“No, sadly not. I didn’t expect you to bring her tonight since you failed to notify me in time", he said and looked angrily at t he young man, "And I need things to be perfect for this. You know I’ve been waiting for this for a while now”

“Yes, I do. And you know what I’ve been waiting to be able to do for a while too”, the young man said with an evil smile gracing his lips.

“All in good time, all in good time. Let’s get her downstairs and secured”

“Sure, but isn’t it risky waiting ?”

“How so, if you weren’t followed and no one but us know about this place. Not risky at all. Besides I thought I told you I wanted it to be perfect when I do this”

“Yeah, you did”

“Then don’t piss me off anymore by questioning my actions. You’ll get to do what you want when I’m done, so just be patient and make sure you have some of the good stuff ready.”

The younger guy mumbled something under his breath, but obediently walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. The two of them grabbed and carried the unconscious Girl into the barn. About 20 min’s later both of them appeared again and walked towards their respective cars.

“I’ll let you know when it goes down through the burner phone, don’t go do anything stupid or I’ll hunt you down”, the older guy said.

The younger just nodded in reply and got into his car and drove off without another word.

* * *

Chloe drove around in the night, her mind seething with anger and despair. She looked for Nathan’s car, it was the only lead she had at the moment. Just find his car, find Nathan, beat the truth out of him and then find Max.

Chloe looked at her phone for the 200’th time that night to check for messages from Max, but there were none.

Fuck it’s getting late, she thought and a yawn escaped her lips.

Chloe tried to keep going but her body would no longer cooperate and she caught herself napping at the wheel a few times while driving on the road.

I won’t be able to find Max if I’m dead, she thought and pulled over to the side.

Maybe I should go home and sleep, but step dick will be there. Chloe just shook her head and decided to sleep in her car. She found a side road into the woods parked the car and fell into a restless sleep filled with nightmares.

Chloe didn’t notice the doe looking at her from a distance when she had pulled over.

The doe was watching her intently, more exactly it was watching the dark shade floating above Chloe’s head sending it's tendrils into her head, causing her to fall into a restless nightmarish sleep. The doe had seen enough, it launched itself and jumped forward through the windshield pushing the shade away. The shade tried to regain its foothold but the doe was too strong in this moment and the shade retreated. Chloe visibly relaxed after this and her sleeping became much more relaxed. She still semi woke with every tiny sound and checked her phone, but the nightmares were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The gloves are off. Max is gone and Chloe is on the hunt...


	27. Conqueror

* * *

**26\. Conqueror**

It was early morning, when Taylor abruptly woke up from the message received ding from her phone. She reached out her arm and checked the watch on the phone, 6 fucking 30. Who the hell would message me this early, she thought.

Taylor opened her phone to see who it was and groaned when she saw who it was from. Courtney, jesus that girl just had no boundaries did she.

Courtney : Taylor we need to chat

Taylor looked at the message and started typing out a reply.

Taylor : Sure Courtney, but you have some serious explaining to do. You fucked up so bad you don’t even know the half of it.

Courtney : I know, can I come by your room ?

Taylor : mi casa, su casa, but it’s like fucking early.

Courtney : Great, I’ll see you in 2

Taylor : What, no..fuck no..Make it like 30 mins at least, not dressed yet and need to wake up and such

Courtney : Sure.

Taylor could almost imagine how Courtney was grumbling at the moment considering the fact that Taylor wouldn’t let her come over right now. She snickered to herself, serves you right for waking me up bitch.

Exactly 30 minutes later there was a knock on Taylor’s door. Damm, had to give it to Courtney, when you said 30, she’d be there in 30. Taylor got off her bed and moved towards the door. She opened it slightly ajar and was surprised when it was pushed open forcefully and Courtney barged into her room.

“Why the fuck did you have me wait like that”, Courtney spat out, clearly angry.

“What do you mean Courtney. It’s morning and I’m up like 1 hour before I usually am and you complain about it”

“Well boo fucking hooo, you didn’t get your beauty sleep or what ?”

“What the fuck bitch, if that’s all you are here for, you can fuck right off again”

“Maybe I will, it’s kinda nice to know which friends have your back and which ones don’t”

“At this rate you won’t have any friends..And anyway, I’m not the one who fucked over Kate and invoked the wrath of Tori”

“Pff, Tori is a two timing bitch. She ditched us for those two losers, she deserves everything I throw at her”

“Excuse me, she ditched YOU, not me”

“So you are crawling back now are you”

“I’m not crawling back, I’m Tori’s friend, which is more than can be said for you. With the shit you pulled you’d have to lick her boots to get back in her good graces”

“The slut can fucking choke on it. I’ll get her down, or her parent’s will when they see that vid of her. Victoria deserves all the shit in the world”

“But Kate doesn’t. You know you are hurting two people here, probably more, not just Tori”

“Fuck that, the christian whore deserves it too”

“And here I thought you might actually be here to figure out how to apologise to Tori and Kate. But I guess I have another thing coming”

“Pff, you’re getting weak too, should’ve known it. You are all fucking pussies”

“And you are just in it for the power. You’re a fucking grade A bitch if you don’t take the video down. Do you even know how much this is gonna hurt Kate and Tori ?”

“I don’t give a fuck, they both deserve anything they get”

“So Victoria possibly getting disowned when her parents find out, and Kate getting on the wrong side of her church and her mom is not a big deal”

“No, they both deserve it and so much more”, Courtney said and Taylor noticed something in her eyes. They shone with something, could it be possible that Courtney was going crazy, Taylor thought, as she remembered what Victoria had said the night of the party, about Courtney having been admitted twice.

“So you send me a message at shit in the morning, that you want to talk. Except you don’t want to talk, you want to belittle and annoy me and people I care about”

“So that means you care more about them than me ?”

“At the moment, you bet your ass I do. You’re being a complete fucking bitch at the moment. I think..”, Taylor started but didn’t get to finish her sentence as Courtney interrupted her.

“You think, well fuck me, that’s a new one coming from you Taylor”, Courtney said raising her voice as she moved closer to Taylor.

“Really, you resorted to insult my intelligence”, Taylor replied back.

“Your what ? you’re a fucking moronic blonde bimbo who dreams of being a model. You’ll probably end up with crushed dreams and a job in the porn industry”, Courtney tossed out with an intent to hurt.

Taylor flinched at her words, but she also got angry.

“Who the fuck do you think you are your bitch”, Taylor shouted, “Get the fuck out of my room, get the fuck out of my room right now”

“Or else ?”, Courtney sarcastically asked.

“Or else I’ll call the security”

Courtney began to laugh, not a hearty friendly laugh, but a mocking insane one. It sent chills down Taylors spine, she’d never heard Courtney laugh like that ever before, well she’d never heard anyone laugh like that, period.

Courtney began moving ever closer to Taylor, “You know Taylor, there is a thing I’ve been wanting to do for a while”

“Yeah”, Taylor said and gulped as Courtney was now uncomfortably close staring her down. She could feel Courtney’s breath on her face and smell something rotten.

“This”, Courtney said as her right hand shot forward and connected with Taylor’s jaw.

Taylor never saw it coming and she slumped to the ground. Taylor was bewildered as her brain reeled to understand what had just happened.

“Not so hot now are you”, Courtney said, “I’ll call the security”, she mockingly said, “Well guess what bitch, you won’t call security and when I’m done, you won’t be calling anyone ever again”

Courtney moved closer with a sick smile and Taylor desperately tried to crawl away, but it was like her limbs were made of jello and she only managed to squabble about a bit.

She saw Courtney’s fist come at her face again and felt it connecting with her nose.

Taylor felt the blood begin to trickle down over her lips as Courtney kept hitting her in a frenzy.

After a while Courtney got up and admired her handiwork.

Taylor, who was barely conscious, noticed that she wasn’t being hit anymore and tried to crawl away, but she somehow couldn’t make her body move properly.

She tried to scream for help, but she felt the blood gurgle in her mouth instead of a scream.

Courtney just stood there and smiled in a sickening way, “And now Taylor, I think it’s time to say goodbye”

Taylor wasn’t sure if it was her beaten up body that was playing tricks on her or if it was real, but she could see a shade sitting on Courtney’s shoulders. It was just like the one she had seen when she snuck around with Chloe and Max the other night, and it was sporting something resembling a smile.

She saw in slow motion that Courtney pulled out a knife and slowly moved towards her. As she got close, Courtney moved to Taylor’s ear and whispered, “I’m going to pay Tori and Kate a visit after you”.

The words somehow acted as a wakeup call for Taylor, a healthy dose of adrenalin went out into her body and cleared some of the clouds in her brain. Taylor couldn’t move her body that much, but she did everything she could to resist Courtney. Taylor felt the knife against her chest, she put one of her arms in it’s way and could feel how a deep wound was cut into it.

Courtney pulled the knife out again and with a shriek tried to strike at Taylor who deflected it with her other arm. Though In her beaten and weakened state, Taylor didn’t have enough strength and the knife slid off and went into her shoulder. Taylor winched in pain.

Courtney triumphantly twisted the knife, to see the pain it caused Taylor, before she pulled it out again and went for the kill.

Courtney, using all the force she could in her attempt to stab Taylor, was moving her entire body forward. This time however Taylor caught the move and twisted the knife around. Courtney unable to stop her movement was caught by surprise and the knife went into her chest. Courtney gave a small whelp as it did.

Courtney got up and walked slowly backwards towards the door, she opened it and walked onto the hallway and collapsed.

Victoria who had a room next door to Taylor had been awoken by the screaming and locomotion. She walked out in her nightgown and saw Courtney on the floor with a knife in her chest. Holy fuck. She hurried over to her, when she did she shot a glance into Taylor’s room and saw Taylor on the floor bleeding from several wounds and with a barely recognizable face.

Kate got out of Victoria’s room and looked on in horror at Courtney.

“Kate, call 911”, Victoria said.

“Huh”, Kate said being shocked to her core by what she saw, and not able to comprehend completely.

“CALL 911”, Victoria screamed so loudly, that she probably woke the entire dorm.

Kate flinched and got out of it, she quickly went to her room, got her phone and dialed 911, alerting the authorities.

Shortly after paramedics and police arrived.

The girls of the dorm were in a state of complete shock and panic. The police told them to go to their rooms and stay there, they’d question them later.

Victoria protested, they were her friends she had to be there for them, but the police would have none of it, they forced Victoria, Kate and the other girls into their rooms separating them.

Victoria quickly texted Kate.

Victoria : This is such bullshit Kate, I have to go the hospital to see them.

Kate : I can’t believe this just happened..I’m not even sure what happened.

Victoria : I don’t care what happened, I have to know if they are going to be ok. Please tell me they’ll be ok.

Kate : I don’t know Tori. I don’t even know what’s going on anymore, everything is so confusing.

Victoria : Don’t go all introvert on me now Kate, I need you to be strong for me, I need you here.

Kate : But we are confined in our rooms by the police, we can’t just disobey them.

Victoria : Please Kate, I can’t handle this alone. There is so much all at once. Please Kate.

Kate wanted to go, but at the same time she was torn. The police had ordered them to stay in their rooms. Tori was clearly in need of her and Kate wanted to go so badly. But how could she do it without being caught. Kate opened the door to her room and glimpsed out. David was walking the hallway, making sure the girls stayed in their rooms.

“Miss Marsh, stay in your room”, His booming voice could be clearly heard in the hallway and Kate quickly shut the door.

Kate : I want to, but I can’t get past the security.

Victoria : Bullshit, if you really wanted to you could.

Kate : :-( why don’t you believe me when I say I can’t.

Victoria was slipping a little back into her old ways, as her anger over not being allowed to go to the hospital with Taylor and Courtney, overflowed.

Victoria : You are such a pussy sometimes Kate, just fucking get over here now.

Kate : Really, that’s all I am to you, some sort of plaything that you can use as you please and order around. Now I don’t even want to come over anymore.

Victoria : Fine, then fucking stay in your room.

Victoria was seething, who the fuck did Kate think she was not coming when she needed her. Victoria started pacing up and down in her room trying to get her anger under control. And when she did she realized what an ass she had been to Kate, Kate who was innocent in all of this. Fuck I’m such an idiot, Victoria thought.

Victoria : Kate, please talk to me. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be like that. Please just Talk to me.

Victoria looked at her phone awaiting a message from Kate. When her phone made a message received sound, Victoria swiftly opened it.

Frieza : We need to talk Victoria. Right now, you have some serious explaining to do. Dad

Victoria’s face fell when she saw the message, knowing only too well what had happened.

At the same time Kate was in an emotional turmoil as she fell onto her bed and started crying. How could Tori do this to me ? I love her and she does this to me. I can’t do this when she is like so. How can she demand this of me knowing exactly what I’ve been through. Kate sniffed into her pillow, the world was really unfair. I think I’ll text Max, she’ll know what to do.

Kate : Max, you up yet ?

Kate looked as the message sending icon kept turning and then a message not received showed. Maybe Max was somewhere with no reception ? No that couldn’t be, Max would probably be with Chloe.

Kate decided to text Chloe.

Kate : Hey Chloe, is Max with you ? I really need to talk with her

Chloe woke up in her car to the sound of her phone giving off the message received sound. MAX, she thought and quickly looked at the phone. Oh, just a message from Kate. Oh fuck, I need to tell Kate and Victoria about Max disappearing.

Chloe : No Max isn’t with me

Kate : Huh, what ? I thought you two were inseparable

Chloe : I Haven’t seen her since last night. She disappeared and I can’t find her

The message hit Kate like a hammer, Max was missing.

Kate : WHAT !!!!!! Oh no.

Chloe : I know. I don’t know what to do Kate. I looked all night and I can’t find her, or Nathan. I’m getting desperate.

Kate had started to cry again. Seemed like all the good people in this world were getting a truckload of dung thrown in their general direction. But why Max, she is so sweet and gentle. Kate shuddered and took a deep breath. Time to be strong and put a brave face on. Tori needs it and Chloe needs it too, Kate thought.

Kate : You’ll find her Chloe, I know you can

Chloe : Can I come pick you and Tori up so I have some backup ? I seriously need some back up right now

Kate : No, I’m sorry you can’t. There’s really been some things going down here too

Chloe : Like what ?

Kate : I’m not sure, but we found Courtney with a knife in her chest and Taylor beaten up in her room. Cops are everywhere and they made us go to our rooms.

Chloe : !!! What that actual FUCK.

Chloe : I mean Courtney was weird last time me, Max and Taylor saw her..Fuck, we could’ve stopped her back then.

Kate : Don’t even know what’s up and down, right now tbh.

Kate : Your step dad makes sure we stay in our rooms btw. So I can’t go to see Tori and she’s being stupid about it of course. I just want to be near her so she doesn’t do something even more stupid.

Chloe : Fuck, I really needed some backup on this, not sure I can do this on my own. But I have to keep believing I can find Max.

Kate : I know, it’s like everything hit’s us all at once isn’t it. Both good things and bad things.

Chloe : You can say that again

Chloe : Just send me a text if there is something I can do

Kate : I’m so sorry we can’t be of much help right now

Chloe : Don’t be sorry, you have more than enough on your plate already Kate

Kate : I’ll pray for you and Max

Chloe : Don’t pray for me, I don’t deserve it, but Max sure as hell does.

Kate : Don’t sell yourself short Chloe. I’ll pray for you both

Chloe looked down at the text conversation she just had with Kate. Something was seriously fucked in Arcadia bay at the moment.

Anyway, not like I can do anything about it. Gotta find Nathan, and after getting everything out of him, I’ll find Max and it’ll all be ok. Chloe steeled herself for another hard day and she started the engine of her truck, pulled out onto the road and started doing what she had done during the night before she fell asleep, look for Max and Nathan.

In the meantime Victoria had called her parents, and it was a conversation with an outcome she had dreaded. Her parents had seen the vid of her and Kate. They were adamant, Victoria had to break it up right now or else she would be disowned, they would not stand for a gay daughter. Victoria had tried to fight, but everything was just too too much at the moment, so she did what she always did with her parents, she promised them what they wanted to hear and gave up on herself.

Victoria : Kate I need to talk

Victoria : Please Kate I really need to talk

Kate saw the multitude of messages from Victoria trickle in. But she was angry, Victoria had treated her like dirt again.

_You should forgive her_

“Is someone there ?”, Kate nervously asked

_You must forgive her, Kate_

“Look this isn’t funny, show yourself”

_Kate, trust in your heart and forgive her_

“Just, show yourself, so I can see you”

_You’ll see me when the time is right, it isn’t now. Right now you should forgive her or you’ll lose her forever._

Kate had no answer to it, she somehow knew the voice spoke the truth. So she opened her phone and looked through all the messages from Victoria.

Victoria : Please Kate, I’m sorry. Please I must talk with you

Victoria : Don’t give me the silent treatment. Just, please text me

Victoria : I need you Kate, please

Kate wondered how Victoria managed to type this many messages in such a short time, But she cast the thought away. What was it the voice had said, forgive her or you’ll lose her forever. I don’t want to do it over the phone, I have to do it next to her, Kate thought. But how can I get to her with David marching down the halls.

Kate got an idea, maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn’t. Kate opened her door, “Excuse me mr. Madsen”

“Yes, miss Marsh”

“I need to use the restroom ?”

“Hah, good one, that’s the oldest trick in the book”

“Mr. Madsen, what’s the first thing you do in the morning when you wake up ?”

“I go to the toilet and...Oh, of course. I’m sorry miss Marsh, makes perfect sense you need to use the toilet in the morning. I apologize, everything is just a little stressed at the moment”

“Tell me about it, Chloe just called me and asked if I’d seen Max, but she’s been gone since last night”, Kate said hoping that David would actually care about it.

“What ! but Max and Chloe have pretty much been inseparable these last few days”, David said with surprise in his voice, “I’m failing again, I made a promise, I have to keep my promise”, he added under his breath, but Kate heard it nonetheless.

He took a look at Kate, “Miss Marsh you can of course use the bathroom, I apologise for my behaviour”

“Don’t worry David, you are just doing your job”, Kate said reassuringly as she walked past him towards the bathroom.

Kate went into the bathroom and waited for a few minutes, then washed her hands. Please god, let this work. Kate opened the door and peered out. David was nowhere to be seen. So he does care about Chloe, Kate thought. I guess that David have run off to either find Chloe to help her, or to try and find Max.

With the coast clear, Kate made her way to Victoria’s room. She briefly stood in front of the door calming herself, and then she knocked.

“Who is it ? I don’t feel like talking so just leave me alone”

“It’s me Tori”, Kate said gently.

Kate heard the springs in Victoria’s bed give way and heard her quick steps and the door was torn open. Victoria just stood there, with her arms down her side. Kate could see she’d been crying, “Kate”, was all she said before she flung her arms around her and embraced her like the world would end in a moment as her sobs started again.

After a few minutes Victoria’s crying subsided and she untangled herself from Kate. Her eyes averted Kate’s and she looked into the ground, “I’m sorry Kate”, Victoria said softly.

Kate put her hand under Victoria’s chin and lifted her face up so she could see her eyes, “I forgive you Tori”, Kate said with a gentle smile.

“But I were such an asshole, again”, Victoria said with a sniff.

“I know, but I forgive you anyway”

“Why ? I don’t deserve your forgiveness. Every time something is against me I take it out on you”

“And I’ll keep forgiving you Tori”, Kate said and gave her a kiss on the cheek, “because I don’t think my life will be as vibrant without you in it”

“So, you..really, you forgive me ?”, Victoria said.

“Yes”

“Ok, I’m not sure you can forgive me for what I’ve done this time though”

“Tori, what have you done ?”, Kate asked

Kate grabbed Victoria’s hand and gave it a squeeze as they sat down on Victoria’s bed.

There Victoria told Kate about her conversation with her parent’s. Kate was at first angry, but she understood. Her own mother was similar as they had both seen earlier.

The two of them spent the rest of the day together. Talking everything out between them, they even found a way where things would work out for them, even if Victoria’s parents disowned her. The reality for them would be harsh, but they could make it. Kate also told Victoria about Max disappearing. Victoria wanted to go help Chloe immediately, but the police had arrived at that time, so they couldn’t get out of their rooms once again.

Police came to question them about what had happened in the morning, they were slightly angry about Kate and Victoria being in the same room for the entire day, saying something about being able to make up a story.

Kate said there was no story to make up.

Victoria said that it was probably Courtney that had done it all. She had been behaving really hostile lately.

Eventually the police let the both of them off the hook when they heard Taylor had woken up at the hospital and wanted to go see if they could ask her what had happened.

Victoria asked if she could go too, since Taylor was one of her best friends. Cops said it was a bad idea for now. Maybe tomorrow. Victoria had gotten angry, and Kate calmed her down and pulled her back into her room. They would have to wait until tomorrow to see her and hear what had happened.

* * *

Chloe had been driving around town for most of the day shaking up all the usual watering holes in town, trying to find the slightest sign of Nathan.

She hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before being nervous, twitchy and scared at the same time. Also waking up at the slightest sound, hoping Max had texted her, hadn’t helped either. So Chloe was tired and getting hungry too, so she decided to head to Two whales to get some food and reenergize herself.

Chloe arrived, probably looking like death itself, but she didn’t care. She parked the truck in the back, like she usually did and went in. The diner was more or less empty since people were at work at the moment so Chloe could pick any booth. She went to the one she always took.

“Chloe, just the person I wanted to see”, Her mom greeted her.

“Hey mom”, Chloe said unable to hide the sadness in her voice.

“Honey, you look like death dragged you in”, Joyce said.

“You don’t know the half of it mom”, Chloe said and sniffled a little.

“Isn’t Max with you Chloe ?”

“No mom, I don’t know where she is”, Chloe said and all of a sudden her emotions crashed. Her mom ever the observant one caught on that something was wrong and brought her baby girl into an embrace.

“Oh my dearest baby. You just can’t get a break”, she said as Chloe cried into her shoulder. Joyce just let her be there until all her emotions had come out.

“Now, tell me, what’s going on ?”

“I don’t know mom, everything is going to shit and I can’t find Max, I just need Max”

“Oh Chloe, so I’ve been right all these years, haven’t I ?”

“What do you mean mom”, Chloe said and looked down into the ground.

“Chloe, I’m not blind. The two of you were inseparable when you were kids. When she left your world fell completely apart, even more than it did when William died”

“It’s not like that”, Chloe tried.

“Sure it isn’t. Daughter of mine, you love Maxine Caulfield, and you always have, don’t go telling me anything else. I saw how you became when she went to Seattle. I can put two and two together you know”

“Mom, not here, it’s...”, Chloe started, but Joyce didn’t let her finish.

“Not even that Rachel girl could change it, even though she loved you to bits. It was clear as day”

“Rachel never liked me like that, mom”

“You just keep telling yourself that Chloe, but it was clear to everyone else that she did. But you never got over Max, and now that she is here, anyone can see what you feel for her”

“I..I’m just so scared mom. What if she disappears like Rachel did. I’d die if she did, I can’t lose Max, not again. I never really got over the first time she went away”

“It’s probably nothing Chloe. Let me get you something to eat, and then you can drive to Blackwell and visit her. She’ll probably be in her dorm when you get there”

Chloe sat down and looked out the window of the diner. The day seemed to be graying, maybe a storm was coming or the world was losing it’s color.

Joyce came with Chloe’s food, it was Chloe’s favorite. With Bacon, lots of bacon.

Chloe smiled to her mom, and began eating. Just, the food didn’t seem to taste like it used to. It tasted like sadness and Chloe couldn’t finish her plate.

Joyce noticed it, but there was nothing she could do at the moment. Not unless Max magically appeared.

Chloe was abruptly torn out of her apathy when she saw a red truck pull out from across the street and caught a glimpse of a red varsity jacket and blonde hair, she wasn’t 100% sure who it was, but it looked suspiciously like Nathan. It had to be Nathan.

“Mom, I gotta jet”, Chloe said much to her mom’s surprise. Chloe ran out of the diner and jumped into her car.

Chloe gunned the engine and raced after the truck she had just seen. Wasn’t hard to catch up to it since the driver in it didn’t seem to be in a hurry.

She pressed the horn and watched as the guy in the truck turned his head and looked back. It was Nathan. She gave off one of those I’m gonna fucking destroy you smiles as she stepped on the gas pedal and rammed into the rear of his car.

Nathans face changed from one of surprise to one of fear. He stepped on the gas and his newer car easily outpaced Chloe’s rusty old truck. But Chloe had an advantage, she’d been driving here for many years, so she knew the roads and all the shortcuts in Arcadia bay.

Chloe refused to lose Nathan just because he had a faster car. She noticed that he turned off towards Blackwell. She smiled, because he picked the slower route and she knew her shortcut would get her there faster than him.

Meanwhile Nathan was freaking out. What the actual fuck was this chick doing, he knew he’d seen her with Max, but why the fuck was she ramming his car. He stepped on the gas some more, and raced towards Blackwell, he was certain he’d be safe there. The bitch wouldn’t dare touch him there.

Chloe raced her truck through the alleyways of the backwaters of Arcadia bay. It was the fastest route to Blackwell and Chloe just didn’t give a fuck about rules anymore. He had taken Max, and she’d fucking get him. Her knuckles were grabbing the steering wheel so hard they were turning white, and her face only displayed pure anger.

When Chloe reached Blackwell she parked her car behind Frank’s RV so it was out of view. Frank was probably here to do some business with the school kids, but it was pretty convenient for Chloe. She got out of her car and decided to wait in hiding until Nathan came.

Chloe didn’t have to wait long until she heard the angry sound of an engine being driven hard and a set of screeching tires as Nathan took the turn leading into the parking lot. He didn’t even bother looking for a parking spot, instead he just ditched his truck next to the stairs and jumped out.

He started making his way up the stairs when Chloe came out from behind Frank’s RV and her anger got the better of her, “YOU PIECE OF SHIT, I’M GONNA FUCKING DESTROY YOU”, she shouted at Nathan who looked back and started running.

“STOP YOU MOTHERFUCKER”, Chloe screamed as she began running as fast as she could.

Nathan had no idea what Chloe wanted with him, but by the looks and sound of it, it wasn’t something good, so he ran for all he was worth. Just get to my room, just get to my room, I’ll be safe there, was all he thought. He could feel a panic attack coming so he didn’t even dare to look back, he just had to reach his room.

Chloe knew the layout of Blackwell pretty well, so she decided to take the not so scenic route when she realized Nathan was running towards the dorm. She ran around the back, and got to the corner of the wall leading to the boys dorms just as Nathan turned it.

“Got ya”, she said as she grabbed his neck and slammed him against the wall letting the fury in her take over and do it’s thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Courtney's gone mental...Will Taylor survive...Is Chloe gonna find Max now that she caught Nathan, and where have David run off too and what is that promise of his...hmmmmm


	28. The devil is in the details

* * *

**27\. The devil is in the details**

Nathan had no idea what the fuck was going on, but he found himself slammed against a wall and an infuriated blue haired girl choking him with both hands.

“WHERE THE FUCK IS MAX ??”, Chloe screamed, spit flying out of her mouth hitting Nathan in the face,”WHERE IS SHE, TELL ME YOU MOTHERFUCKER, TELL ME, OR I SWEAR TO GOD I’LL RIP YOUR BALLS OFF AND FEED THEM TO FRANK’S DOG !!!!”

Chloe slammed him against the wall a few more times as she tightened her grip around his throat, just to make sure he understood that she was serious.

“Ei csaannttt bneatthhee”, Nathan sputtered, as his arms and legs flapped aimlessly in the air.

“FUCK YOU”, Chloe screamed and punched him in the face a couple of times, “FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU”

“Pwsss ssstwwwopp”, Nathan desperately gargled.

“FUCK YOU, I’LL FUCKING HURT YOU LIKE THE PIECE OF SHIT YOU ARE”, Chloe’s rage was fully in control of her, she just did everything by instinct as she pummeled on Nathan.

After a while Nathan was on the ground in front of the dorms, a sobbing bleeding mess, ”This fucking hurts. I don’t even know why you do this. Just please don’t hit me anymore”, Nathan whimpered.

Chloe leaned up against the wall, all her rage spent. She slowly slid down the wall, and started sobbing as she looked at her bloody and bruised knuckles, “Fuck you Nathan, It’s you, I know it’s you. You took her, you took Max, just like you took Kate and Rachel”.

Chloe looked over at Nathan, she had clearly given him a very solid beating, his left arm was probably broken, and his face was full of bruises and he’d probably get a black eye, or maybe two.

“What are you talking about ? I didn’t even know something happened to Kate”, Nathan said with genuine surprise in his voice. “It all makes sense now”, Nathan muttered to himself.

“What makes sense ?”, Chloe asked, having heard what Nathan said.

“After the last Vortex party I woke up in my bed, a ton of messages from Victoria. The last one saying she hated me and never wanted to see me again”, Nathan began, ”Holy fuck it makes sense. If Victoria thinks I hurt Kate no wonder she wants nothing to do with me and doesn’t answer my texts”.

“Yeah, well. Everything we looked at points straight to you, we are all sure you did it you motherfucker”, Chloe said looking straight into Nathan’s eyes with a fury he had never seen in anyone before not even his dad.

“DID WHAT ? WHAT ?”, Nathan Screamed, “I don’t even fucking now what the hell is going on. Victoria was so happy that night with Kate and next morning she won’t talk to me or reply to my messages. What is it you think I did ?”

“I..K-Kate was raped that night, thankfully she was drugged so she doesn’t remember anything of it, only someone saying he’d take her to a hospital”, Chloe said with a low voice, “Victoria found her next morning and called me and Max, it was a fucking mess”

Nathan looked at Chloe, his mouth slowly opening and closing like a fish on land, the shock on his face apparent to Chloe, “What”, he said, “But who would do such a thing to Kate ?”

“You apparently would”, Chloe hissed at him.

“Look, I’m messed up and I know it, but”

“BUT WHAT ?”, Chloe screamed.

“I’d never rape a girl”, Nathan said.

“WHY THE FUCK NOT, EVERY FUCKING CLUE WE FOUND POINTED TO YOU”, Chloe shouted out.

“Because I’m gay Chloe and Victoria’s known that for like 5 years”, Nathan said firmly and looked Chloe straight in the eyes as he said it, “I guess that’s why she wrote that last message to me, cause she thought I’d been lying to her for all these years”

Chloe didn't have any super powers, but over the years she had developed an uncanny knack for knowing if people were telling the truth to her. She didn’t even detect a single hint of a lie in what Nathan just said, In fact, he seemed as sincere and honest as she had ever seen him. She didn’t fully believe him, after all every single clue had pointed straight to him.

“Right, and the pope just impregnated a few nuns”, Chloe spat out.

“It’s the truth, believe it or not”, Nathan said and looked down between his legs, “I’d kinda appreciate if you didn’t tell anyone”

Chloe remembered that Victoria had defended Nathan and tried to say something the other day, but was interrupted. Had Victoria tried to tell them that Nathan was gay and it probably couldn't be him ?

“Why ?”, Chloe said apprehensively.

“No one except my ex boyfriend and Victoria knows”

“Really ?”

“Have you seen me walk around with a big sign saying, I’m gay, Lately ?”

“No not really”, Chloe said, “But why wouldn’t you ?”

“Oh come on, my family would disown me. My dad would probably have me killed or something so the Prescott name wouldn’t be soiled with a gay son”

“Yeah, I can see that happen. No offence, but your dad is a massive prick, the town would be better off without him”

“None taken, cause he is. I hate him. Because of him I can’t live the life I want to, or be the one I am without hiding it”

Chloe looked at Nathan, and deducted that he was really telling the truth. When she thought back there had been many clues that he was gay. Some of his mannerisms and the way he did certain things. Also even when every other guy had been interested in Rachel, he had not. Something struck Chloe, a thought and as usual she just blurted it out, “Shit, your ex boyfriend gotta be Hayden, he is the only gay guy I know of here at Blackwell. Cudos for hiding it so well, I never expected his ‘secret’ guy to be you”

“Well look who’s a regular Sherlock Holmes”, Nathan said with a huff, ”But you are right. We kinda had to be secret about it. Couldn’t have anyone suspect me”. Nathan looked at the ground, “You know this arm fucking hurts, I mean I was probably long overdue for a beatdown for all the other crap I’ve done..I just kinda wish I had gotten it for something I did and not something I didn’t do”

Chloe stared sheepishly at the ground, every now and then looking up at Nathan, “Yeah, I‘m sorry about that. Sometimes I just lose control completely when someone I care about is hurt or worse, disappears”

“I know the feeling. My mom died when I was 14, suicide. Fucked me up pretty good”, Nathan said, “That’s when my mental problems started, and my alcohol and drug abuse did too”

“Damm”, Chloe said, “We are more similar than I could’ve imagined”

“How so ?”, Nathan asked curiously.

“I lost my dad when I was 14, he was killed in a car accident”, Chloe said silently, “And then Right after that, Max had to move because her parent’s had gotten jobs in Seattle”

“That sucks”

“I know. What’s worse though, is when Max came to tell me, I kinda had a meltdown and did some bad things to her and said things I regretted ever since”, Chloe said and sighed deeply, “And now Max is gone again, and I don’t know where she is. She is gone just like Rachel”, Chloe began crying, “Why is it everyone I love just disappears from my life ? why, why, why ????”

Nathan didn’t know what to say, so despite being severely beaten up and his arm hurting like hell, he crawled over to the wall and sat next to Chloe. He put his good arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him, he instinctively knew that she needed it.

Chloe Leaned into his chest and starting crying, “She is gone Nathan, why does all the good people in my life disappear ?”

Nathan gently stroked Chloe’s hair, “Don’t worry, we’ll find them, I know we can find them”, Nathan wasn’t even sure if they could, but Chloe definitely needed to hear this, because she scuttled closer to him and tried to hug him and as she did she squeezed his broken arm, “AWWW, ffs”

“Oh shit sorry. We should probably go see the school nurse with that”, Chloe said and looked down, suddenly more than a little ashamed of herself.

“Nah, my arm is broken, she can’t fix this. We have to go to the ER. Here, you’re driving”, he said and tossed his keys to Chloe.

Chloe caught them, “Dude we gotta go after  Max, fuck your arm"

"Right, and how well is your lonesome search going ? Found anything apart from beating the snot out of me ?", Nathan sneered at Chloe.

Chloe knew Nathan was right, she couldn't do much on her own. But she was conflicted, every second mattered. The longer she wasn't looking for Max the bigger the chance that she'd never see her again.

"Well you fucking bluehaired psycho, just gonna stand there forever and stare", Nathan goaded her in an attempt to snap her out of it.

Chloe gave him a stare that made Nathan Gulp, "Fine, we'll go to the ER, but after we hella gotta look for Max, because I don’t think we have much time to find her”

“I’m with you, if you help me clear things up with Victoria, her and Kate will probably help too”, Nathan stated in a hopeful voice.

“I think it’s too early for that. Kate is still in bad shape mentally, she’d probably be pushed over the edge again if she sees you”, Chloe said, “I’m sorry Nathan, it’s probably me and Max’s fault they both believe you are to blame”

“Yeah, well, we’ll deal with it later then”, Nathan said and sighed, “Let’s go to the ER then and get me patched up a little. Then we look for Max”

They walked over the lawn towards the parking lot. Chloe was feeling very guilty all of a sudden. Had she not pummelled Nathan like this and asked questions instead they could already be looking for Max now. Chloe opened and held the door for Nathan and helped him get in. She then ran over to the drivers side, jumped in and drove towards the ER as if the devil was on her tail, breaking all the rules on her way there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the usual Sunday double chapter to end the week, hope you enjoyed them :-)


	29. Race against time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> People are probably asking why would Chloe take Nathan to the ER in the first place. Well because she needs help, and even if going to the ER is a detour, Nathan is maybe the only one that can and will help her right now....However strange that may seem ;-)

* * *

**28\. Race against time**

Chloe was impatiently tapping her foot in the waiting room of the ER, “can’t these fuckers move any faster ?”, she said letting her frustration show.

“It’s just a broken arm Chloe”, Nathan said, “It’s not as serious as the people that came in from the car crash earlier”

“But Max’s life is on the line. We have to do something Nathan, we can’t sit and wait while she is raped or killed”

“Ok, but not at the cost of someone else’s life Chloe. I know Max is extremely important to you, but if me flaunting my family’s wealth costs someone else their life, that’s on you”, Nathan said.

Chloe swallowed, “Ok”

Nathan walked up to the desk, “Nurse it’s starting to get really painful, is it possible to get this looked at soon. After all my dad is the main beneficiary of this hospital”

The nurse looked at Nathan with contempt in her eyes, “No matter who you are or how much money you have, you’ll have to wait like everybody else, got that ?”

Nathan sighed, “Fine”, he turned to Chloe and shrugged, “I tried Chloe”

After what felt like forever and a day, a doctor came out, “Nathan Prescott, if you’d follow me please”

Nathan and Chloe got up and followed him into an examination room. The doctor looked at Nathan’s arm, his bruises and then eyed the bruises on Chloe’s knuckles.

“So, I take it the two of you have not been in a fight and this was just an accident ?”

“Yes”, Nathan said, “It was all just one big misunderstanding. Now could you skip the third degree and just fix my arm ?”

“Well, we need to give your arm an x-ray to see how badly it’s broken, before I can say if it’s easy or not. So I’ll send you up to have an x-ray done. After that just come back here and we’ll get right to it”

Nathan and Chloe both sighed deeply, jesus christ this would take it’s sweet time. They followed the doctor’s directions and ended up at the X-ray room. Thankfully they didn’t have to wait long. The X-ray was taken and they went straight down again.

After a few minutes of waiting they were greeted by the same doctor, and followed him into an examination room.

“Ok, so it’s not badly broken, so it’ll be enough to just set it and get a cast on it. You’ll have to wear it in a sling for a while, but it should be ok”

“So, what are we waiting for ? get started already”, Chloe blurted out.

“Right you are”, the doctor replied and got started fixing things.

Some 30 min’s later they were on their way out of the ER and headed towards Nathan’s truck.

“Fuck, 1½ hour wasted”, Chloe said, “That time could’ve been better spent looking for Max”

“Well if you hadn’t fucking beat me up it wouldn’t be a problem now would it”, Nathan said, clearly annoyed with Chloe’s attitude.

“Yeah, I’m hella sorry about that”

“Don’t worry, let’s just get the fuck outta here and start figuring out where Max is”

“Yeah”, Chloe said and turned the key in the ignition, “Where should we start ?”

“I think maybe we should start looking at Blackwell, that’s where you last saw her right ?”, Nathan said.

“Yeah”, Chloe said as she shifted the car into gear and pressed the speeder as far down as it would go. The car’s engine roared and it flew out of the hospital’s parking lot, smoke and tire residue in it’s wake.

Chloe was driving fast, insanely fast. Nathan usually enjoyed going fast, but this was downright dangerous, how Chloe ever got her license would forever be a mystery to him. He had to admit though that she wasn’t a bad driver, as the road flew by him in a blur.

They arrived at Blackwell in record time, the sun was still slightly visible over the horizon and Chloe parked the truck sideways on the spot where her beast usually would’ve stood, aka a handicapped spot. She could do this because today she had parked the beast on a regular parking spot, because she had had to get the drop on Nathan earlier.

“Alright let’s get out and do some detective work”, Chloe said and jumped out of the car.

“Yeah, let’s go and check Max’s room first”, Nathan said.

“Why should we check Max’s room ?”

“You never watch CSI do you ? You always check the victim’s place if you don’t know where they are. Maybe they kidnapped her from there and left some clues”, Nathan said and rolled his eyes.

“Oh, that actually makes a surprising amount of sense”, Chloe said and scratched her hair.

“Well lets fucking go then and not waste time. You’re the one who rushed here like a bat out of hell and now you are fucking standing around like a zombie or something”

“Hey take that back, you fuck”

“Pff truth hurts doesn’t it”, Nathan said and started walking towards the dormitories. He wasn’t technically allowed inside the girls dormitories, but since his dad paid most of the guards, it usually wasn’t a problem.

As they reached the dorm they noticed a guard that usually wasn’t there. He tried stopping them, but one look and a comment about losing his job from Nathan was enough to get him out of the way. When they got in the noticed the blood stains on the wall and that Taylor’s room had police tape over the door. What the fuck. They got to Max’s room and noticed the door was open. They slowed down and snuck closer, they could hear voices from in there.

“What the hell happened”, the voice said.

“No idea, but it clearly can’t have been good”, another voice said.

Chloe always the impatient, rushed forward and slammed the door open, “HAH, got you, you Max nappers”, she shouted.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH”, Dana and Juliet screamed in unison.

“For fucks sake, Chloe you scared the shit out of us, I legitimately think I just peed myself a little”, Juliet said.

“What are you doing here ?”, Chloe asked.

“Yeah, what are you two doing in Max’s room ?”, Nathan asked.

“We thought we heard something, so we went to investigate. We saw someone climb out the window as we entered”, Dana said, “And since you are with Chloe, I think we can throw the theory that it was you, out the window too”

Chloe and Nathan looked around Max’s room, wow, some kind of hurricane had been through here it seemed. All the drawers and cupboards had been gone through or tossed to the floor. Table flipped over and everything was just a general mess.

“Well damn, the room hella didn’t look like this when I left it to rip your face off Nathan”, Chloe said.

“Hmm, someone must’ve been looking for something then”, Nathan concluded.

“Wait you went to kick Nathan’s ass”, Dana said.

“Well yeah, why do you think his arm is in a sling and he’s got a black eye ?”, Chloe said with a smug smile, “Just sorta sucks that he is seemingly innocent in this mess, so even though I heIla kicked his ass, it was for all the wrong reasons”

“What the fuck ever, it’s water under the bridge, I deserved a good beating for so many other reasons”, Nathan said and sighed, “But, this doesn’t help us find Max”

“No it doesn’t”, Chloe sighed.

“I don’t know where else to look”, Nathan said.

“Me neither”, Chloe said, “FUCK !!”, she screamed and slammed her fist into the wall.

“Chloe that won’t help”, Dana said.

“No it won’t, but it ,makes me feel like I’m doing something”, Chloe said.

Nathan looked on deep in thought, “Maybe we should go somewhere else, we might get some ideas”

“Like where ?”

“I don’t know, my room”

“Hey I’m not that easy loverboy, not to mention that I'm gay”

“Chloe”, Nathan stated, “You know better”

“Oh yeah, I do”, Chloe remembered their conversation from earlier, “Sorry Nathan”

“Wait what, is there something here we should know ?”, Juliet began, “You two aren’t, are you ?”

“Jesus fuck no, are you insane”, Chloe said, “I’m fucking gay Juliet, I haven’t exactly been silent about that these last few years have I ?”

“No, I guess you haven’t Chloe. You never know though, people change all the time”, Juliet said and winked at her.

“Pfff..let’s get outta here Nathan”, Chloe said and walked out. Fucking nosy Juliet and fucking Dana, Chloe thought seething inside...weren’t much fucking help were they.

Chloe walked a bit, then stopped and leaned against the wall, fucking fuckity fuck. She slammed her fist into the wall again. Fuck. Just help me for fucks sake, anything.

Nathan Caught up to her and put his hand on her shoulder, “We will find her Chloe”

“How do you know ?”, Chloe said and sniffled, “She might already be dead”

“Shhh, we’ll find her, we have to believe that Chloe”

“But we got nothing, nothing at all. We need help”, Chloe said and looked at Nathan, her desperation clearly showing in her eyes.

Nathan didn’t know what to say so he kept silent. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something and turned his head, what the fuck.

“Chloe, please tell me I’m not seeing things”, he said and pointed.

“What”, Chloe said and looked in the direction he pointed. There it was, the doe. “So you see it too ?”

“You mean you’ve seen it before ? I never have”, Nathan said.

“Yeah, me and Max have seen it since we were kids. Ever since the day we got lost in the forest many years ago”, Chloe said, a sad smile gracing her lips as she recalled the adventure.

The doe wasn’t just standing there, it was impatiently pacing back and forth as if it wanted them to follow.

“I think it want’s us to follow it”, Nathan said.

“Follow what ?”, Dana, who had just come out of Max’s room, said, “You two high or something, there is nothing here”

Nathan and Chloe looked at each other, so they could see it but others not.

“Let’s go Nathan”, Chloe said and they started following the doe.

It went towards the Guys dormitory with Nathan and Chloe following close after it. They entered and kept following it as it went towards Nathan’s room.

When it came to the door of Nathan’s room it started walking in circles as it looked expectantly at Chloe and Nathan.

“I think it want’s us to enter”, Chloe said.

“Yeah”, Nathan breathlessly said.

“Well open the door dummy, you’re the one with the key to your room”, Chloe said and pushed Nathan ahead.

“Right”, Nathan moved to the door and unlocked it. As he did the doe just walked right through the wall.

Nathan opened the door and he and Chloe walked into his room. The doe was lying right in front of his bed, seemingly waiting for them to get there. As they moved towards it, it vanished in thin air.

“What the fuck”, Nathan exclaimed.

“Yeah, it does that”, Chloe said and smiled.

“Wait, I think I see something where it was”, Nathan said, “Could you check if there is something under the bed.

“What, why ?”

“Because the doe was right there, it has to be some sort of sign or something..Besides it’s not like I can do it with this freaking arm”

Chloe looked at him and sighed, he was right of course, he couldn’t check under the bed, “Alright, I’ll look”. Chloe got onto her knees and looked under the bed. Well I’ll be damned, there is a USB stick there she thought. She reached out and grabbed it and triumphantly pulled it out. “It’s a USB stick Nathan”

“Well it ain’t mine. Let me look at it”

“Nu uh..I found it, it’s mine by right”, Chloe said.

“Well you look at it then”, Nathan spat out, getting tired of Chloe’s passive aggressiveness.

Chloe took the USB stick into the light. It was a blue 32 gb corsair USB stick.

“You know anyone that have a stick like this ?”, Chloe asked.

“Well this place is full of nerds, could be anyone of them, Daniel , Waldo, Stella or maybe Brooke. But wouldn’t know why either one of them would’ve been in my room”, Nathan said.

“Hey, wanna check what’s on it, I mean, the doe did kinda point us to it, so it’s probably important”, Chloe said.

“Alright, let’s do it”

They slid the USB stick into Nathan’s laptop, and they opened it up.

The stick was full of ripped movies, but not really anything out of the ordinary if it belonged to someone here. Though there was a folder called, DR. It had to contain something special, because it was passworded, so they couldn’t get past it. Chloe banged the keyboard in frustration, “FUCK this”.

“I may know someone who can help us”, Nathan said, “You know him too”

“Who ?”

“David, your step dad”

“No. Fucking. Way”, Chloe said as she clenched her teeth, “I will never ask for step douche’s help”

“Not even if Max’s life is at stake ?”, Nathan asked.

His words shook Chloe to her core, she knew he was right. But it was David, her asshole stepfather, she hated him. Hated him for marrying her mom, hated him for always trying to tell her what to do, hated him for trying to replace her dad.

Chloe took a deep breath, “What the fuck can he do anyway ?”

“My dad’s used him a few times for some detective work. Anonymously of course, since David apparently finds that working with my dad is against his code of honor or something. Anyway he’s got some pretty serious connections so he can probably pull through for us, never failed in any of the things my dad wanted him to check out”

“Ok, for Max’s sake I’ll humor you”, Chloe said in defeat, and despite her best efforts she was somewhat consoled that her step dad refused to work directly for the Prescott’s.

Nathan nodded, pulled out the USB stick and put it in his pocket, “let’s go then, we got no time to waste”.

They ran out to Nathan’s truck got into it and raced towards Chloe’s home. Chloe knew David would be home by now, it was his day off after all.

As the car screeched to a halt when they reached the Price residence, Chloe jumped out and raced to her home bursting through the door.

David was in the living room watching TV, and he jumped up as Chloe came rushing in, slightly out of breath.

“David, you have to help us, it’s Max, she is missing”, Chloe said.

David looked at her suspiciously and then at Nathan when he came in a little bit later.

“What happened ?”, David said and pointed at Nathan’s arm.

“David, focus”, Chloe said, “Max is missing, what happened to Nathan is irrelevant”

“David, she is right”, Nathan said, “Max have been missing since last night, we looked everywhere and tried to find her, but she wasn’t anywhere we looked. Maybe this is connected to Rachel Amber’s disappearance too”, Nathan said scratching his chin.

“I know, Kate told me. Have you got any idea where Max might be ?”, David asked.

“No, no clue”, Chloe said with clear desperation in her voice, “Nathan said you could help us find her. So please help David, I’m begging you”

“You don’t have to beg Chloe, I will always help you”, David said. Behind the gruff exterior David was a big old softie who held family values in extremely high regard. He just had trouble expressing them in a manner that made people understand it. Joyce had seen it in him, and for that he was eternally grateful. He just wished Chloe would see it in him too. Maybe this was his chance at proving it.

“We do have this USB stick, and there is a directory on it called, DR. But it’s password protected, so we can’t get through and see what’s on it”, Nathan said.

David’s head perked up, he had gathered intelligence in secret since Rachel disappeared. He had seen how it affected Chloe when she went missing, and he wanted to make her happy, to show her that he cared. So he had started his own investigation when the police didn’t seem to care. He had been close a few times, but he always seemed to miss the last part of the puzzle. Maybe this would be a breakthrough and he would solve it. Then they could rescue both Max, and maybe Rachel if she was still alive.

“Let me see it, I know a few people who are talented”, David said as Nathan hands him the USB.

“David, please hurry. If something happens to Max I don’t know what I’ll do”, Chloe said and looked towards David.

David could clearly see the desperation on Chloe's face, so he walked over to her, and very very uncharacteristically gave her a hug, “Don’t worry Chloe, we will save her”

Chloe at first tried to resist and push him away, but after a little lost all fight in her and began crying on her stepdads shoulder.

David patiently held her until she stopped. He let go of her, and looked her in the eyes as he said, “Now let’s go hack this stick so we can see what the DR folder is hiding, and hopefully find Max”.

David turned around and walked into the garage, “You two coming ? I’m not gonna do this alone you know. Oh Chloe, could you make us some coffee, it’s gonna be a long night”

Chloe Looked at Nathan, pointed towards David and then she went to the kitchen to make coffee as Nathan followed David.

Both Nathan and Chloe had a feeling that maybe, just maybe there was a chance that all of this would end with them finding Max in one piece.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> David is recruited....we all know that David loves Chloe as if she was his own daughter and would never refuse her if she needs help...and right now she needs help like never before...


	30. A darkness beaten ?

* * *

**29\. A darkness beaten ?**

Victoria wasn’t feeling herself when she woke up. Max had gone missing the other night, just like Kate had a few days prior. Victoria looked at the sleeping Kate, and smiled a sad smile. My angel. Victoria got out of bed and went to her desk. This is all my fault, had I just stayed the bitch none of this would come to be. I wish I could turn back time so none of this would’ve happened. She sat down and tried to gather her thoughts. From somewhere a thought entered her head. it’s all my fault, the world would be better without me. Victoria thought this over and over, she couldn’t get that thought out of her head.

Eventually she pulled out her ornate pen and started writing. When she was done, she carefully folded the paper, took out an envelope and put the letter into it. She wrote a few words on it and put it on the bedside table. She sighed, took one last look at Kate and exited her room, a dark shade floating after her as she did.

* * *

Kate woke up with a bad feeling, Victoria wasn’t in bed with her. Kate looked around desperately, but Victoria wasn’t there. She noticed an envelope on the bed table. It said, I love you, on the front in Victoria’s handwriting. How sweet, Kate thought. Kate Grabbed the envelope and opened it, she took out the letter and started reading it.

_Kate_

_I’m so sorry_

_This is all my fault. What was I thinking falling for you. Dressing you up. Making you a target._  
_Courtney and her stupid video didn’t make it better. On top of it most of your family openly shows hatred for you now. My mom and dad have also told me it is not acceptable to be with you, or to be gay. They want me to come home and never be with you or mention you again, or they’ll disown me. I can’t do that Kate._

_I wish we hadn’t gone to the party, I wish we had just stayed in my room. None of this would’ve happened if we had. And now Max is missing too, if only I hadn’t trusted Nathan this wouldn’t have happened. You would be ok, Max would be ok. If only I had stayed the queen bitch, everything would be ok._

_But I can’t be that anymore, I can’t be what my parents want me to be, what everyone expects me to be. I want to be with you, but I’m no longer sure that I am worthy. I want to be free, to just be me, no more no less._

_I just don’t know how to do it._

_I’m sorry Kate, I love you so much more than I thought I could, but the guilt of all my mistakes, of all the bad things that have happened to you and others because of me is to much._

_Maybe I’ll see you again someday, who knows._

_I love you my bun bun, more than anyone will ever know_

_Tori_

No. no no no no noooo, what is Tori writing, Kate thought, what is she implying. Then she heard someone scream from the outside, “OH MY GOD”, Kate recognized the voice to be Dana’s, she also heard the fear in it.

She quickly got out of bed and ran through the dorm hall as fast as she could. Her body, not fully healed from her ordeal earlier, was hurting as she ran. Kate ignored it as she ran through the hallway and slammed through the dorm doors to exit to the outside. Momentarily she was blinded by the early morning sun. Then Kate saw Dana and a few others, who had heard Dana’s scream, look up to the roof of the dorm. She followed their eyes into the sky, and there was Victoria, right on the edge of the roof looking down.

Oh dear god, please no, Kate thought, please let me save her.

She looked up again and noticed something shimmer between Victoria and the edge, it was a doe. It stood there seemingly preventing Victoria from going over the edge, there was something else there too, a shade of some sort trying to push it away. Kate looked into the doe’s eyes and felt something.

_you can save her Kate_

something whispered in her mind.

As Kate looked up again, the doe nodded and disappeared. Then everything seemed to slow down around her. She heard the voices of the others, but it was all muffled as if someone was showing a movie in super slow motion, “Bitch flipped out, she is gonna jump”, she heard before everything stood still.

Kate didn’t think or wonder why, this was the only chance she would get, so she ran into the dorm towards the stairs to the roof. Her breathing became more and more labored, her head felt like a thousand hammers was hitting it as she went up the stairs, but she pressed on as fast as she could.

As she burst through the door to the roof, she felt something on her lips, it tasted like iron. She was bleeding. She felt the blood slowly trickle out from her nose. The headache she had was overwhelming and her eyes were losing focus.

She saw Victoria standing frozen at the edge of the roof as time slowly began moving again, so did Victoria.

“Tori, don’t”, Was all Kate could think of saying.

“What”, Victoria said in utter surprise and turned around to face Kate, “How ?”

Kate could clearly see the shade at the edge of the roof tugging at Victoria’s expensive cashmere sweater, “Don’t do this Tori”, Kate pleaded.

“Or what ? you are better off without me, everyone is better off without me”, Victoria said and looked down, “The whole world is better off without me”, she quietly said, “I’m a monster, just like Nathan”.

Kate took a step forward, “Don’t come closer Kate”, Victoria said and inched closer to the edge.

“Why not ?”, Kate said and looked at Victoria, “What are you afraid of Tori ?”

“Of never being good enough to deserve your love”

Kate took another step forward, Victoria didn’t move this time, “What makes you think that you don’t deserve me ?”

“Because you are everything I am not. Sweet, forgiving and wonderful. You are amazing without even trying to be. And me, I’m just a bad person trying to be something I am not”

“No”, Kate said.

“No what ?”

“No, I will not accept that”, Kate said.

Kate got angry. Not because Victoria was trying to jump. Not because of what she said, but because Victoria was trying to take the easy way out, because she was trying to leave her.

“Who the fuck do you think you are, Victoria Chase ?”, Kate hissed.

“Wait what ?”, Victoria looked at Kate somewhat surprised.

“I said, WHO...THE FUCK...DO YOU...THINK...YOU ARE ?”, Kate screamed.

Victoria looked at Kate in total disbelief, she had never seen Kate angry like this before, or heard her really swear for that matter.

“I go against everything I’ve been taught because I fell in love with you. I’m not sure why, but I did”, Kate said, “And here you are wanting to take all that away from me. Have you ever wondered for one second what doing this, would do to me ?”

“You’d be ok, you’d be better off without me”, Victoria said, not even fully believing her own words.

“Tori, that is such bullshit”, Kate swore again, she didn’t know where it was coming from, but it sure came out now, “You don’t even believe what you just said yourself do you ?”

“I.I..I..I don’t know anymore Kate”, Victoria stuttered, “I’m stuck in a nightmare and I can’t wake up. It’s just so dark right now, I just want to be free, to not be a monster”

Kate could see the shade pulling harder in Victoria, “Tori, do you remember my favorite bible passage ?”

“Yes, yes I do. Why ?”

“Could you speak it for me please”

“Why ?”

“Just do it please”

“Ok. Ok”, Victoria said, ”Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”, she recited.

“Don’t you see it Tori”, Kate said as her tears started to roll down her cheeks.

“See what ?”, Victoria said as the shade pulled harder and harder at her.

“You give me rest. When I Kissed you the first time in your room, I felt peace, I felt at ease like I never had before. I finally knew what it was I had been missing all my life, it was you”, Kate said and looked into Victoria’s eyes, “I don’t intend to let anyone or anything take you away from me, I love you Tori, no matter what happens, I always will”

“Kate, oh Kate, I love you too. Everything just feels so dark, I can’t see a way out for me, for us”

“We can get through it together Tori. No matter what the world throws at us we’ll deal with it together”, Kate said stretching her hand out towards Victoria.

Victoria suddenly understood the gravity of what she was about to do, it was like a fog lifted in her mind and she began moving forward towards Kate. As she did Kate saw the shade give Victoria’s cashmere a hard tug when she tried to move to her and Victoria lost her balance and started falling backwards instead.

“No”, Kate shouted, as her body shot forward on it’s own, faster than she ever thought she could. Her hands stretched out and she felt Victoria’s fingers intertwine with hers as she caught her hands. Yes, Kate thought with euphoria, I got her, and then Victoria’s weight pulled them both over the edge.

Kate stared straight into Victoria’s eyes as they fell and she smiled to Victoria, who smiled back. If they couldn’t have each other in life, they would at least die together.

Next thing Kate hears a huge, “rittsshhhhh”, and she feels one her shoulders being dislocated as Victoria’s entire weight is stopped by Kate’s arms and hands that are holding Victoria’s. “Arghhhhhhhh”, Kate cries out in pain.

“Please don’t let go Kate, I don’t want to die”, Victoria says with fear in her voice.

“Never !!!  I’ll never let go of you Tori”, Kate says despite the pain, “I love you too much to live without you”

Miraculously, Kate’s sturdy Nightgown had caught hold of one of the many protrusions that are along the side of the Prescott dormitories, and it is keeping her and Victoria from falling. Below them people are running around to get help, to somehow save the two girls. They momentarily stop when they hear the sound of a loud explosion coming from somewhere in the distance, they turn around confused until they see a large fireball rise into the sky a few miles behind the school. Everyone stares at each other wondering what it was. Though not Samuel, he is usually peaceful and quiet, but in this moment he takes action and decisively commands Logan and Zach to help him fetch ladders. They obey without question when they hear the usually quiet spoken man, command them like he is an officer in the army and they run to get them.

Kate and Victoria are oblivious to it all though. Kate is in pain, but she refuses to let go. She prays to god to give her strength. She looks into Victoria’s eyes to stay strong. She holds on for dear life, just so she can tell Victoria, "I love you", one more time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O M G..this is literally a Cliff hanger !!! And it was all Kate and Tori...Some of you may have noticed the role reversal in this compared to the game and Tori doing some of Kate's lines. I thought it would be a nice twist to have Victoria be the one breaking under the pressure and Kate trying to save her..
> 
> Anyway
> 
> What was it that blew up ?
> 
> What's going on with Chloe, Nathan and David ?
> 
> Is Max dead ?
> 
> Stay tuned for tomorrows Chapter, which is the final Explosive chapter for this story...There is also an epilogue and I'll post both of them in the same day, so you wont have to wait for it ;-)


	31. A cry in the dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter ! Everything I've been building up to is coming to an end here.  
> Be warned guys and girls, there is some pretty dark and bad shit in this chapter. I'm not sugar coating anything here, so don't blame me if you read something you don't like in there !!
> 
> All you have is your fire  
> and the place you need to be  
> Don't you ever tame your demons  
> Always keep'm on a leash
> 
> Arsonists lullabye, fits the mood perfectly...
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEtkIRlz7Vw
> 
> Update : Just fixed a few spelling errors, and a few things I felt were worded badly

* * *

**30\. A cry in the dark**

As Max slowly came to, she felt her body involuntarily shiver in the cold air. She opened her eyes and could dimly make out the room she was in. It was reasonably big, and quite dark. She could make out some cabinets along the wall and maybe a couch in front of her. There were also what looked like photography equipment everywhere and the light along the wall was red, as if she were in a dark room.

Max felt like someone had punched her in the face, and she shook her head to try to fully regain her consciousness. She felt a wetness along her legs and gathered that she had pissed herself while unconscious. Max felt embarrassed about it, she hadn’t done that since she was a little kid.

She could hear someone breathing to the left of her. Oh no, Chloe, who ever had gotten her had Chloe too. Max tried to turn her head to see for sure who was there. But her body didn’t fully agree with her and with a loud groan she gave up.

Whomever else was in the room quietly started to whimper, Max could hear it was probably a female and grew ever more desperate. Please god, don’t let it be Chloe, please, not her, she pleaded in her mind.

“Whoever you are help, please help”, Max desperately whispered, afraid to shout just in case who had taken her here, were still there.

The whimper stopped for a bit, and then started again but louder.

“Hweeepppp, psssss hweepp mwwwwee”, the words couldn’t fully be heard, but there was no doubt what the person was trying to convey to Max. The person had to be gagged or have a piece of tape in front of her mouth or something.

“I can’t”, Max whimpered,”I’m taped to a chair or something, I can’t move at all”, the gravity of the situation finally hit her. No one was gonna help her here. No one even knew she was here. Well except the girl next to her, but she probably wouldn’t be of much help.

Max began to cry and her tears streamed down her face. What little makeup she had on were running, she would’ve looked like shit had the lights been on. After what seemed like an eternity of crying and quiet whimpering, Max had no more tears and simply dry cried herself to sleep.

* * *

A sudden Noise jerked Max awake. It was the squeak of a massive door being opened, that had awoken her. She had no idea how long she had slept or how much time had passed. She could hear calm footsteps moving towards the room her and the other girl were in. Sharp lights were turned on and Max was momentarily blinded by it.

When she regained sight, she noticed there was definitely Photography equipment in the room. It was almost like she was in a studio. She herself was taped to a chair. Max turned her head to see who the girl next to her could be. She saw the golden hair, the face, despite all the ruined make up, the perfect face.

“Rachel”, Max said in a whisper and Rachel turned her head towards her, and Max saw the single tear running down Rachel’s face when she noticed the one trapped in the room with her, was Max.

Max on the other hand saw the smeared makeup on Rachel’s face, the leftover of many tears, and whatever else had happened to her here. Max wondered how long Rachel had been imprisoned here, but deep down she already knew. She knew Rachel had been here since the day she didn’t reply to Max’s text. Max began to tear up and sob once more at the thought of it.

“Max and Rachel”, a voice said, “Finally together. You two have no idea how long I have waited for this moment”

Max knew this voice, but it couldn’t be, it simply couldn’t be. All their research had pointed to Nathan being behind the drugs and the girls disappearing.

“I see you are surprised Max. Don’t be. I've wanted to do this shot since I first saw your application to Blackwell. And when I’m done, my assistant can do what ever he want with the two of you. I know he’s waited quite awhile for it”

Mark fucking Jefferson. He was the sick fuck who did this. Wait assistant. It had to be Nathan, it had to be, Max concluded.

“Hi Max”, another voice said. The way it sounded, it sent shivers down Max’s spine, both because she recognized it, but also because it contained a hate that usually wasn't present, “I can’t wait for Mr. Jefferson to be done with you”

“Warren ?”, Max managed to croak out with a voice of utter surprise.

“Yes Max”, Warren said as he stepped into the light, ”Surprise, the nerdy nobody have you all fooled”, he smirked as he spread out his arms in a scenic gesture, as if he pleased a huge crowd, when he bowed deeply.

Max could see the smug smile on his boyish face, and all she wanted to do, was to smash his teeth in with a hammer. How could she have been fooled like this. Now that she looked back, there had always been something off with him. His insistent need to check up on her, to touch her, she shivered at the thought of her nearly having said yes to his invitation to go ape.

“You know, when Mark were done shooting the pictures of Kate, he allowed me to do whatever I wanted with her”, Warren smiled evilly as he recalled that night,”I raped the christian slut, I got her back for what she did all those years ago. Mark even shot some video of it and gave it to me as a memory. I have masturbated to it everyday while I imagined it was you. And Max, when Mark is done with you, I get to do the same to both you and Rachel”, Warren said with excitement in his voice, “I get to be your first, and your last”.

“Indeed, Warren will get his turn with you and Rachel. He can be quite violent at times you know. Probably got something to do with him being bullied all the time at school since he was a little kid. Especially because his older brother wasn’t there to protect him. His brother was beaten to a near catatonic state when he was younger and he never really recovered from it. A grown man with the intellect of a child”, Mark said, “Warren refuses to talk about it, but it seems to have had a huge effect on his personality”. He held a short break from talking, and it seemed like he was thinking about something, then he spoke again,” Unfortunately after we are done, I can’t let you or Rachel survive, you both know too much”.

“Now, we need the two of you to relax a little, so we can clean you up and do the shoots properly”, Max Noticed Mark moving forward with a syringe filled to the brim with a clear fluid, she felt the needle go into her neck and then her consciousness slipped away, and the world faded to black.

Max awoke again, unsure of how much time had passed.

The lights were still on.

Max felt a pair of arms around her.

She tried to move but couldn’t.

“Ahh, you are awake”, she heard Mark say, ”You can’t move, can you ? it’s a marvelous concoction Warren cooked up just for this occasion, knocks you out for a bit, and when you wake up you are unable to move for a few hours, but you are still fully aware. Ahhh the perks of having a chemistry genius as your protege”, Mark marvelled.

Max could only look around with her eyes. She saw a mirror and in it, the reflection of herself in a wedding dress. Rachel had her head on her shoulders and was clad in what looked like a succubus outfit.

Mark was busy taking photo's, he moved around and was completely consumed by his 'work'.

“Yes, yes, yesss. This will be my greatest work ever. The whore and the innocent”, Mark was muttering as he kept shooting photos, “Warren, adjust them”.

Warren walked over and started moving the girls as Mark directed, Max felt him grab her boobs as he moved her and she saw the smile on his lips.

Warren loved this, he loved that Max was helpless. He loved that he could look and touch as he pleased, when he moved her around. It was all good as long as he didn't bruise her during her photo session.

Mark kept on shooting many photos of the two girls together in more and more lewd situations, but he never seemed quite satisfied. Not until he made Warren adjust them, so it seemed as if Max was seducing Rachel.

Max could see the look of pure hate in Rachel’s eyes as she looked at Jefferson. She knew her own eyes only portrayed utter despair. Max had started to accept they’d never get out of this, that she’d never see Chloe again. It made Max feel lost like never before, and it showed in her eyes.

“Yes, just like that. Oh this is perfect”, Jefferson said, “So damn perfect, those eyes”. He made Warren adjust them some more, until he was finally satisfied and stopped photographing.

“Now, I will go and check out the photos, and if I’m happy, Warren gets his wish and if not, we’ll do some more photos. Enjoy the break you two”, He said with glee and smiled.

Warren just stood and stared with lust at them. He couldn’t hide his excitement and wanted Max to know just what would happen, so he took out his phone and showed Max the video of him raping poor Kate.

Max tried to turn her head away, but the effect of Warren’s drug wasn’t gone just yet and she couldn’t do anything but watch it. How he brutally violated Kate, how he tried to punch her hard, but Jefferson had stopped him and scolded him, she couldn’t get serious injuries he had said in the video.

When it was done, he just smiled and looked Max in the eye, “You’ll be next”, he said with a sick smile.

After about an hour, give or take, Jefferson had looked the photos over and he was apparently quite happy with himself, because he walked over with a satisfied smirk.

“I’m sorry Max and Rachel, the photo shot is over and Warren will get to do his, ehmm, thing. When he is done, well, when he is done so are you”, Jefferson said and smiled in a way that only truly evil people do, “I actually wish I could do a few things to you myself, but I already did plenty with Rachel over the last few months..so no need really, I had my fun. I guess this time I'll settle for just watching”

The drugs had finally worn somewhat off and Max could turn her head and look at Rachel. Rachel wasn't afraid it seemed. Max looked in her eyes and it seemed like there was nothing left in them. They were just empty, like Rachel had given up and now was just a body waiting to have it's soul removed. Max could only feel fear rising inside her, as she desperately struggled to get free of her bonds.

Jefferson and Warren shared a laugh at Max’s futile struggle.

“Mark could you film this too ? I want a memory of this”, Warren said with unbridled excitement in his voice.

“For you ? Of course I can Warren”, Jefferson replied with a smile.

Warren started undressing as Mark turned on the camera. When Warren had undressed, it was clear to Max that he was very excited. She looked desperately at Rachel, but Rachel still had this empty stare as if she wasn't there anymore. Max squirmed and tried as best she could to get out of her predicament.

Warren first walked over to Rachel with a twisted smile,”Now, now Rachel, I’m sure you already had plenty of guys, even me a few times. We all know you are a slut so no reason to resist me”. Warren Brutally ripped her shirt and bra off in one hard tug, exposing her breasts and making red burns from the bra strap on Rachel’s body.

“Not bad, even if they have been used by many they are pretty nice and firm”, Warren said as he brutally groped her. He was clearly disappointed, when Rachel didn't even whimper or cry despite his brutality.

He shifted his attention to Max, “Oh, can’t have you be all clothed Max”, he said as he sauntered over to Max and tried to rip the wedding dress of her. But it was relatively new, so it didn’t budge at all.

Max’s couldn’t help but laugh at this, “Always knew you were a fucking weakling Warren”, she said and spat him in the face.

Warren immediately raised his fist and punched her hard, “You know slut, it’s unwise to taunt me. I don’t have to hold back like I did with Kate. Mark is done with his photos and he doesn’t give a flying fuck, if I beat you to death or cut you open before I rape you. But please, struggle, I love beating girls half to death as I rape them”, he said and his eyes were stone cold and his voice made Max shiver in fear.

“Mark, scissors please”, Warren commanded.

“She is right Warren, you are such a weakling”, Mark said with a laugh, as he gave him the scissors.

“Fuck you Mark”, Warren shouted.

“Hey, you’d better behave ! Need I remind you, that if it weren’t for me you would already be in prison for killing that Meghan girl”

Warren frowned at him, but didn’t answer his taunt. Warren took the scissors, put it under Max’s dress,”snip snip, Maxine”, he said as he slowly cut it open, exposing Max’s chest.

“Oh such small and perky tits you have Max, I have dreamt about them for a while”.

Warren put his hands on Max’s breasts and began tugging at them hard, he was like a little kid with his new toys.

Max began to cry, she knew she was about to be raped and that it would be the last thing to happen to her before she died.

Warren started pulling Max’s panties down. Took him a few tries but eventually he managed to get them down to her ankles. His smile grew bigger and he got up and smacked Max across the face.

“Stop crying bitch”, he said and then slapped the other side of her face so hard, that Max got a nosebleed and felt her ears ringing.”Yeah, just like that bitch. When I’m done you’ll be so beaten up no one will recognize you. Not even that blue haired whore you call a friend. I’ll be your first and your last”.

Max smiled at that, “Hah, my first ! You are too late for that, my blue haired girlfriend made sure of that. I’m not nearly as innocent as you think”, Max spat out in a last bid of defiance.

At those words, something snapped in Warren and he punched Max in the stomach, hard, “You fucking whore ! You were suppose to be pure, to be MINE”, he screamed and punched her again, this time in the face.

Max knew she was going to die so she just looked at him and spat the blood she felt in her mouth, straight into his face and laughed.

Warren punched her a few times more to shut her up, but Max kept laughing.

“I’ll shut you up yet”, Warren said as he proceeded to pull Max’s head up by the hair and tried to force his erection into her mouth.

Max tried hard to keep her mouth shut and closed her eyes. This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening, it’s just a bad dream, was all she could think. Her head was ringing and everything was turning red in her vision. She felt his dick touching her lips and tried to move her head away from him.

Warren forced her mouth open with his fingers and violently showed his cock in until Max puked. Then he shouted at her, called her a filthy swine and hit her some more.

Warren flipped Max around so she was on her stomach, he got on top of her and whispered into her ear, "I bet there is one hole you still haven't used you little bitch". He slammed her head a few times into the ground.

Max was barely conscious and the ringing in her ears grew louder and louder, until it was a loud BOOM. Max felt Warren let go of her head, and as the room got filled with smoke and dust very fast, she felt his weight disappear from her body. There was another loud bang quickly after and a very bright light.

Max was blinded and disoriented by it, but she heard screaming and gunshots.

Then silence.

And then she heard a voice,”MAX ? MAX ? where are you ? MAX?”, the desperation in it was clear but Max's ears were still ringing and she had trouble making out who it was.

Max tried to scream, but her voice was to hoarse so only a muffled groan came out. Her vision slowly came back and with blurry eye sight she saw a flashlight dart around the room and eventually focus on her and who ever held it came closer and closer,”MAX, MAX..OMG MAX, we found you, we found you”. It was Chloe, Max began crying in relief. She felt Chloe frantically tug at her restraints eventually freeing her.

“Max, did they do anything to you ? Oh Max, I was so scared we’d be to late”, Chloe babbled, as she hugged and kissed Max, only then noticing her bruises and broken nose. “I’ll fucking kill that motherfucker”, Chloe made a motion to get up and go for Warren, but Max gripped her arm, beckoning her to stay with her. Max couldn’t even cry anymore. She had spent all her tears so many times over already. So she just sobbed into Chloe’s shoulder and hung on to her for dear life for a bit.

When Max somewhat got her bearings back, she managed to croak out, “I’m not the only one here, Rachel is here somewhere too”

“What, where ?”, Chloe said, looking around them.

“She was right next to me a moment ago”, Max managed to say as Chloe took off her jacket and put it over Max’s shoulders covering her exposed body.

Chloe moved the flashlight around until it’s rays found Rachel’s form pressing itself into the corner of the room like a scared animal.

Chloe rushed over to Rachel who in turn tried to claw her way through the wall as she approached. She was out of her mind, acting only on her most primal instincts it seemed.

Chloe reached out and gently put her hand on Rachel’s shoulder, “Rachel, it’s me, Chloe. Max is here too”, Chloe gently whispered.

Rachel tried to pull away from Chloe, her eyes wild with fear, but her long captivity without proper exercise and food, had weakened her severely and she didn’t have the strength to resist Chloe.

Chloe gently pulled Rachel into an embrace,”Shh Rachel, both me and Max are here now, nothing can hurt you anymore”, as Chloe gently rocked the shivering Rachel, she let her hand slide over Rachels hair, calming her as best she could. Rachel slowly relaxed and eventually melted into Chloe’s embrace.

Rachel looked up to Chloe’s face and into her blue eyes, then said the first words since Max had heard her call out for help, “Chloe ? Is this real ?”, was all Rachel managed to say, before it all became too much and she fainted out of sheer exhaustion and the amount of drugs in her system.

“David, over here”, Chloe shouted.

Her step dad hurried over to the three girls.

“What about those 2 scumbags, I want to fucking murder them”, Chloe said and pointed in the general direction of Jefferson and Warren.

“They are pacified and cuffed. I’ll make sure they won’t hurt anyone ever again. But, we need to get these two upstairs to safety first”, David said with grim determination and steel in his eyes, and Chloe noticed something in them and she understood, David would do anything to keep them safe.

Anything.

He quickly took off his jacket and wrapped it around Rachel’s unconscious body so she was at least a little modest. He then lifted her up like she weighed nothing and started walking towards what had to be the exit,”Come on girls, let’s not keep you in this hellhole longer than absolutely necessary”.

Chloe grabbed Max’s hand and pulled her close, wrapping her arm around her shoulder,”let’s get out of here Buttercup”.

“Chloe I’m naked, at least let me find my panties”, Max said.

“We have extra clothes in the car”, Chloe said.

Max nodded to her and they followed David towards the exit.

As they walked there Max could see the massive iron door had been blown off it’s hinges. Of course, she thought, Chloe had told her at some point that David had been some sort of explosives specialist in the army, so that had to be his handy work.

For every step they got closer to freedom, Max felt her heart grow lighter, they walked up the stairs and they were in a barn. There was a big red pickup truck there, and she heard a familiar voice shout,”Did you save her ?”

“Nathan, Rachel were here too, we saved them both”, David replied,”thanks to the information on the USB stick you and Chloe found, we actually knew where to look and got here just in time”

“Rachel ? Oh my god, she’s been here for that long, all this time..I..I..You really saved them”, Nathan said, tears creeping into his eyes.

David proceeded to gently put Rachel into the truck and put a blanket over her, “Nathan, you and Chloe make sure to get these two to safety, and I’ll deal with things here”, David said.

“Yes, sir”, was all that came from Nathan, who Max noticed had a broken arm and quite a few bruises in his face.

Max looked at Chloe who in turn looked back guiltily at her,”I sense a story here”, Max said.

“Not yet buttercup”,Chloe said,”I’ll tell you when we are safe”

“Oh, no fair”, Max said faking anger, but in reality she was to exhausted to even want to fight Chloe on this, she just wanted to go home and sleep forever.

After having put Max in the truck, Chloe walked back towards David with determination, “David, I want to kill them”, Chloe said.

“No, Chloe. I can’t let you do that”, David calmly replied.

“That is not your decision. They touched Max. They raped Rachel multiple times for all we know. I want to see their life leave them as I choke them to death”, Chloe said with rage in her voice as she tried to force herself past David.

David placed both his arms on her shoulders and looked Chloe straight into the eyes, “No Chloe, I can’t let you do that. Once you take a life you can never undo it, no matter how much that person deserves to die”

“So you are just gonna let them get away with it ? I’ll, I’ll”, Chloe began saying something unforgivable, but David was faster, he put his hand over her mouth.

“I never said they would live, only that I couldn’t let you kill them. I know the cost of taking a life, innocent or guilty and I can’t let you carry that burden. That is my burden to carry for you, do you understand ?”

Chloe teared up in anger and struggled hard to get free so she could yell at David for taking her vengeance from her. Though deep down she knew David was right, that if she killed them it would haunt her. So eventually she relaxed and nodded.

“Good. Now drive Max and Rachel to our home, and don’t open for no one except me, you hear me ?”

“I got it”, Chloe said and looked down both in defeat and respect at the same time.

“Now go, what happens from now on, is not for either one of you to see or experience, Do you understand ?”

“Yes, I get it, I get it”, Chloe said and started walking towards the truck. Just before reaching it she looked back at David with tears in her eyes, “Thanks dad”, Chloe said, much to the surprise of David.

She got into the truck, looked at Max and Rachel. She gave a small nod to Nathan, “Let’s go home”, turned the ignition and drove off towards her house as David had told her too.

* * *

David watched as Chloe drove off. "Ok, I got work to do", he said to himself. He turned around and walked down the stairs. He entered the studio, saw Jefferson and Warren tied up where he left them.

“Now you two, I’m going to teach you a lesson before you die”, David said as he placed the two of them on the couch. He proceeded to pull out his knife and let it slide down Warrens still naked body.

“You know Warren, together with child abusers, rapists are the most hated in prison. But don’t worry, you are not going to prison, you are going to hell”, without warning David flipped the knife and drew a line of blood down over Warrens chest.

Warren screamed, and David smiled, the rapists screams were music to his ears. He would make sure that both Warren and Jefferson would feel agony before he sent them to hell where they belonged.

David took his sweet time giving the two men more pain than they thought existed. He made them both wish they had just shot themselves earlier.

After what seemed forever to the two of them, David was done giving both Warren and Jefferson a taste of how hell would be for them.

“Now boys, I’m going to send you off to hell and give you a little taste of what awaits you there”, David said as he slowly poured gasoline all over the room and onto the pile of pc's and binders with photos that he had gathered close to them.

He had tied the two men together with Wire so it wouldn’t burn over immediately, he would make damn sure that their last moments would be pure agony, and for that, being burned alive was one of the better ways.

David walked towards the exit of the room,”Please David, Please don’t do this”,Warren pleaded through a bleeding mouth that was missing several teeth.

David merely smiled, flicked open his Zippo and lit the gasoline,”I hope your last moment’s will only be of pain, cause you deserve nothing else”, he said and watched as the fire grew all over the room, edging ever closer to the two tied up criminals. He turned around and walked out just as Warren and Jefferson started screaming from the fire eating their skin, their face, their lungs, them.

He waited at the top of the stairs until their screams stopped and he could feel the heat beam out from underneath the ground.

He walked towards his car just outside the barn. Time to get the explosives and blow this cursed place to kingdom come, he thought. He opened the trunk to his car and took out the sealed metal box. David had thought he would never need his secret stash of these things, but here he was. David waited Patiently until the bunker had more or less burned out. Being made of concrete had the advantage that eventually there would be nothing more down there to burn. David put on his gas mask and walked down there, to check if it was safe for him to place the explosives. It was, the fire had more or less died out. David placed the explosives strategically around the barn and in the dark room, he rigged it to a single remote trigger. Before he walked out, he took one last look at the room and the two half burned people in it. Most of the shelves and stuff in there had melted from the heat, there were still small fires here and there and a decent amount of smoke. He noticed that one of the ‘corpses’ was still breathing. Somehow Warren had survived the fire. Warren tried to say something, David leaned in closer, “Please, help me”, Warren rasped.

David looked at the badly burned boy as he stepped on his hands, crushing them, and with contempt he answered, “Not a chance in hell”.

He got up and walked away as he heard Warrens desperate cries. He didn’t once look back or stop, despite the inhuman toe curling screams from Warren.

David got into his car and drove off. When he had gotten a good 500-600 meters away he stopped the car, and got out. It wasn’t entirely a safe distance from this kind of explosion, but he wanted to be sure he could see that hellhole disappear.

He pulled out the remote trigger, pressed the button and watched as a gigantic fireball rose to the sky. The force of the explosion were flattening the closest trees and smashing them into splinters, and the blastwave made the trees around him behave like in a hurricane and his car was rocking wildly from side to side. David saw the dark room blown to hell, and also saw a doe looking curiously at him before it seemingly vanished into thin air.

David took a deep breath. Well I’ll be damned, he thought, I haven’t seen that doe since my last tour in Iraq, when it prevented me going into that house where Rob got blown up. Maybe there is a meaning with everything after all. He shook his head in disbelief, oh well, at least this unfortunate business is over. David entered his car, looked into the rear view mirror and saw the dying embers of the dark room in it, there would be nothing but a hole in the ground there now.

The girls would be torn and ripped. In both physical and emotional pain. He knew a bit about both. He also knew, that when he would come home and tell them, that the dark room and the people in it are no more, things would be easier for them. It would take time, but eventually with the help of family and friends they would be ok. He smiled and nodded satisfied to himself, “I kept my promise”, he said as he turned the ignition and drove towards home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, the perceptive ones among you had already guessed that Warren and Mark Jefferson were in it together. Truth is I always hated Warren and have always seen him as one of the bad guys. So writing this story with him as one of the main bad guys puts a smile on my face.
> 
> In the game I never really saw Nathan as bad, just an easy target for Mark Jefferson, almost like all the girls he photographed. I even firmly believe Mark Jefferson Killed Rachel in the game, but manipulated Nathan into thinking he did it. Thus I wanted to give Nathan a chance to be someone else in my story.
> 
> Last chapter is an epilogue, picking up the pieces of shattered dreams..


	32. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :-) lets tie this up yeah :-)

* * *

**Epilogue**

Oh hi Journal, it's been quite a while since I wrote in you. I guess you are really curious as to what have been going down in the last few years. There is like a million things to tell, but I'll try to keep it brief.

* * *

After Courtney's attempted murder on Taylor, the feds were brought in to investigate things. That really stirred up a hornets nest. They found Principal Wells secret bribe stash and his notes about it on his pc. He had managed to delete the stuff about the Prescott's, but not about Courtney's mom and dad bribing him to keep her previous episodes a secret. So all of a sudden Well's was the center of a huge scandal that ended up costing him his job, and 3 years of jail time. In my opinion it wasn't nearly enough, his personal greed could've cost several students their life had things gone a little differently.

They also found the psych evaluations. Apparently quite a few of the students had had problems in their past. Some had improved and changed, while others had parents bribing Well's to take them in.

For us, most notably Warren Graham was mentioned in there, he had only been taken in because Mark Jefferson had agreed to be his mentor.

Now us that are in the know, we know that Warren is dead and can harm no one any more. But his psych eval was not a good read. He had developed a deep hatred for women after his older brother had been beaten half to death as a kid by a female classmate. A female by the name of Kate Marsh. He had been suspected to be responsible for the disappearance of several women, but each time Mark Jefferson had given him an alibi in the later years. It really was rather suspicious. Coupling this with Warrens genius level intellect and natural affinity for chemistry. Recipe for disaster is all I say.

Kate felt extremely guilty and for the longest time believed, that her rape at the hands of Warren had been gods punishment for beating his brother. This was of course not true.

* * *

Somewhat good things happened too. Kate and Victoria eloped and got married. It was a huge scandal on both sides. Victoria got disowned by her parents, but she could care less, she had Kate now and that was all she needed to be happy.

Kate’s Mother haven’t spoken to her since, but her dad and her sisters love Kate regardless. They visit Kate and Victoria as much as they can, even if they live across the country now.

After Kate and Victoria married they finished Blackwell and then moved to Los Angeles. Kinda fitting, the city of angels. Kate is painting and making illustrations for books. She’s had a few exhibitions and is slowly gaining fame as an artist and illustrator.

Victoria is a photojournalist, and is getting a lot of credit in those circles. Lately for her groundbreaking photo montage, The dark side of America, which is about all the war veterans the government seem to forget.

In their first years together, both Kate and Victoria had a lot of demons they had to fight. But they stayed together and succeeded with the help of counselling, therapy and a seemingly never ending love for each other. They still have episodes every now and then, but then again, after what we've been through, it would be strange if we could just go on as if nothing happened.

Victoria’s Mother have started warming up to them, and tries to mend her relationship with Victoria and Kate. It isn’t easy, she burned a lot of bridges with Victoria. But at least she is doing her best to earn a spot in their life again.

Victoria have been quite apprehensive about it, but it seems Kate have taught her a thing or two about forgiveness.

Her father though, well let’s just say he sticks to his guns and will never acknowledge them. This in turn have caused somewhat of a gap between him and Victoria’s mother, and as such they are currently separated, possibly a divorce down the road.

* * *

Courtney survived the self inflicted stab wound she got when she tried to kill Taylor.

She was placed in a mental asylum after her complete breakdown and attempted murder on Taylor.

She is still considered to be too mentally unstable to be let out and is to be kept there indefinitely.

Those of us who knew her in the past, have no intention to do anything to sway that decision. Even when her parents offered a lot of money, to those of us who knew her. Much to their dismay, none took them.

Courtney got what she deserved for almost killing Taylor, and if she had succeeded in that, she probably would’ve killed Victoria and Kate to. At least that’s what Taylor have told us. After all, even if we knew something had affected her, we believe the shade thing only made what you really were inside, come out sooner and stronger than it otherwise would’ve.

This way both we and everyone else is safe from Courtney's twisted personality.

* * *

Taylor and Nathan are living together in New york in a shared apartment. Not as a couple but as friends, Which makes total sense since Nathan is gay and Taylor is..well she is still unsure what she is.

But anyway, to the public they are a couple, the rich heir to the Prescott fortune with his Model girlfriend.

Yes, you read that right, Taylor is a model and a good one too. She’s already been on the frontpage of several magazines, and is on her way to become a supermodel, yay, go Taylor :-)

Nathan is officially learning how to lead a major company.

Unofficially he is also practising his photographic skills by taking erotic photos.

He want’s to just be a photographer, but since his dad have been diagnosed with terminal cancer, Nathan plays the ‘good’ son until his dad dies. When that happens he will hopefully be brave enough to be open about himself and his sexuality.

At least that’s what all of us hopes.

* * *

David and Joyce are stronger than ever. After all this crap happened, things settled down in their household.

Chloe laid off David and actually accepted him as a step dad.

In the light of what he had done for her the night they rescued us...well it showed Chloe another side of him that she didn’t know of. Namely that he more than anything cared deeply about her and Joyce. After that her anger towards him vanished like fog on a summer day.

They finally managed to paint the house, Blue, ofc ;-)

But anyway, there are more surprises with them, shortly after the shit hit the fan, Joyce announced that she was pregnant.

Chloe was extremely apprehensive about it, saying that they were a bit old for it.

Joyce reminded her that she was ‘only’ in her 40’s and she could easily handle it.

But anyway, when Joyce gave birth to a little boy, Chloe’s resistant punk heart melted, I swear she is spoiling that kid so much. They named him Robert after David’s friend who died in Iraq.

* * *

I guess that leaves 3 girls. I mean Me, Chloe and Rachel.

Well things were complicated for a while. Rachel had a whole slew of diagnoses written to her name. She was for the longest time scared that all of this was just a dream, and that she’d wake up and be stuck in the dark room still.

I kinda had a bit of problems too, the whole being raped thing and what not kept coming back to haunt me, but what I went through was nothing compared to what Rachel was fighting.

We managed to get through it together though, well as much as we could. Those things never fully disappear.

Rachel have more or less given up on her dream of being a model, she's got severe anxieties after the whole dark room thing. Instead she is doing stock trading from home.

It turns out she’s got quite the talent for it, she is already close to having earned her first million dollars. Well, it’s not really surprising, the girl did rock a 4.0 gpa before she vanished, so of course she’d be good at it ;-)

Chloe have mellowed out a lot, she is now closer to the girl I knew when I was a kid. I don’t mean that she acts like a kid, but that most of her anger issues are gone. She also focused on her school work again and managed to finish it with a decent score instead of an abysmal one. Not as good as Rachel’s, but I’m so proud of Chloe regardless. She then decided to become a tattoo artist, and got an apprenticeship. So not sure why she even needed the school thing in the first place, maybe to make her mom happy or to prove that she could do it. Regardless, Chloe is great :-)

And me, well, things are going well. I’m really getting some traction after I started putting my work out there. I have had a few minor exhibits and sold a few of my photo’s, so I’m doing ok. I still have episodes every now and then, Nightmares too.

I’m still a dorky camera girl, but I’m a dorky camera girl with one of the most visited Instagram pages of all time. I never would’ve imagined this when I were at Blackwell. So yay me :-)

We’ve all healed many of our wounds and grown up a lot from the kids we were a few years back. We haven’t fully figured out what is going to happen with the three of us.

But in the first years, when both me and Rachel fought hard battles to keep our sanity, Rachel understood that she wouldn’t exist without me and Chloe. That she needed us, to stay even remotely sane. We were the only ones that really knew and understood what she had been through.

It was really awkward at first when she told us that she’d never leave us. I mean I’ve known since the first time I talked with Rachel that she loves Chloe, just never really thought she also loves me.

But during our recovery Rachel and me shared a lot of things, and she told me that the only thing she survived on in those long months in the dark room, was the thought of seeing Chloe and me again. Anyway, for now Rachel respects that I and Chloe probably aren’t ready to share ‘us’ with her, well mostly Chloe isn't, she can be so damn possessive. I wonder if Rachel one day works up the courage to fez up to it, I hope she does. But honestly, somehow I think as time pass’s it will just happen, since we know pretty much everything about each other. It’s like the three of us are connected by fate.

So here we are, 3 women living together in a lighthouse overlooking Arcadia Bay. Yes, we bought the lighthouse when it came up for sale. I’ll have you know it’s got the most epic sunrises and sunsets and it helps me and Rachel stay calm when things overload in our heads. Not to mention Chloe just loves it up here too, she won’t admit it of course, ever the hardass punk. But she draws the most amazing tattoo sketches up here where everything she loves is.

Our story isn’t finished, it’s just started. Our future is unknown, but despite everything I think we'll have lives worth remembering. And maybe, just maybe, one day, we won't think of the Dark room and the shit that went down in it either.  
   
Anyway, I think this will be my last journal entry for a long time. Maybe someday when I'm old and grey I’ll open you again and write some more, or maybe just to read what I wrote when I were younger. Until then, goodbye journal, I’m off to make the rest of my life the best I can, for myself and the ones I love.  
   
XOXOXO Max ‘Never Maxine’ Caulfield

Below Max's entry, Chloe added something in her sloppy handwriting.

_PS : Max, if you read this sometime in the future when you are old and grey. I love you, I always did and I always will. In the past, the present and the future. I think with time I'll probably love Rachel too, so don't worry dork._ _Chloe_

Below that, Rachel added something in her delicate beautiful hand writing.

_PPS : Sorry for invading your journal Max, but just in case I never worked up the courage to say it and so you and Chloe might know it one day if you read this._

_Max and Chloe, I love you. You are my angels, my saviours, my salvation and my life. Without the two of you I would be nothing._

_I know I haven't said it out loud just yet, but hopefully I'll have the courage some day. I'm just really scared of the two of you rejecting me and leaving me in the dark. I know you never would, but that little voice that crept into my head during all those months in that cursed place, keeps telling me you might._

_I fell for Chloe first, but the Max sized hole in her heart was one I couldn't heal._

_So I called you Max, and during our chat's and all the time we planned you coming back, I fell for you too._

_I know, I know. How silly of me. I fell for the two people I knew were destined to be together._

_But regardless of all that, you saved me, and you've kept on saving me ever since. Every day I'm near the two of you I know I'm safe and I know this is not a dream. And in case it is, I never want to wake up. Rachel  
_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of this story. It's taken me pretty much a year to get it done, writing whenever I felt like it and had time for it(working a full time job leaves me with very little time to write, I'm afraid. Also why some of the chapters are shorter than others).
> 
> I'd like to take the opportunity to thank my girlfriend for dealing with me being an impatient ass the times I've asked her to read it, and for the times she told me if I were going in the right direction or not. You know who you are buttercup :-)
> 
> To the rest of you, readers, fellow writers, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for reading my story. I sincerely hope you enjoyed it :-)
> 
> Maybe sometime I'll write another story if I get inspired, maybe about LiS 2 or the prequel, you never know.
> 
> This is O2aDH signing out, until next time.


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